Around 74,000 years ago, a massive caldera erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering a prolonged and devastating volcanic winter. (gizmodo.com)
The eruption is thought to have spewed almost 1 trillion gallons (3.7 trillion litres) of molten rock onto the surface, along with just as much sulphur into the atmosphere, triggering what researchers now call a «volcanic winter». (businessinsider.com)
The finding casts doubt on the theory that humans were almost wiped out around that time by a «volcanic winter» — an idea that comes from genetic data showing that the population rapidly expanded just after that time, as if it had recently collapsed. (newscientist.com)