Past Vulnerability
Vulcanic eruptions and human vulnerability in traditional societies past and present
A part of the subject areas Archaeology and Natural science
Edited by
Felix Riede
With contributions by
David K. Chester,
Jan Dietrich,
Angus M. Duncan,
Kevan Edinborough,
Walter L. Friedrich,
Bo Gräslund,
Sébastien Guillet,
Thomas Hoffmann,
Sacha Jones,
Franck Lavigne,
A. Mathias Valentin Nordvig,
Gerald A. Oetelaar,
Retna Siwi Padmawati,
Neil Price,
Felix Riede,
Heather Sangster,
Jens Seeberg,
Annette Højen Sørensen and
Lisbeth H Torfing
More about the book
About the book
Volcanic eruptions can affect everything - nature, wildlife, people. From the earliest times, human resilience has been tested by this most severe environmental hazard resulting in a variety of collective responses - from despair and helplessness to endurance, increased worship of the gods, and even mass migrations.
Past vulnerability breaks new ground by examining the histories of extreme environmental events, from the resent eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java to the prehistoric Toba supervolcanic eruption 74.000 years ago on the island of Sumatra. Experts from a broad and unconventional range of disciplines - from anthropology to literature studies and from archaeology to theology - discuss the impacts of volcanic eruptions in human history and prehistory.
The book sets the scene for a 'palaeosocial volcanology' that complements and extends current approaches to volcanic hazards in the natural and social sciences by presenting historically informed and evidence-based analyses on how traditional societies dealt with these dangers - or failed to do so.
