Volcanic eruption eye-witnessed and recorded by prehistoric humans

ULUSOY İ., Sarıkaya M. A., Schmitt A. K., ŞEN E., Danišík M., Gümüş E.

Quaternary Science Reviews, vol.212, pp.187-198, 2019 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 212
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.03.030
  • Journal Name: Quaternary Science Reviews
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.187-198
  • Keywords: Anatolia, Human footprints, Petrographs, Rock painting, Salihli, UNESCO global geopark, Western Turkey
  • Manisa Celal Bayar University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Human footprints in hydrovolcanic ash near Çakallar volcano (Kula, Western Turkey) were discovered in 1968. A nearby pictograph interpreted as depicting Çakallar volcano would define it as the oldest site where humans demonstrably eye-witnessed a volca̶nic eruption and possibly artistically recorded it. Despite Çakallar's volcanological and cultural importance, its eruption age has remained controversial. Here, two independent dating methods, cosmogenic 36Cl and combined U-Pb and (U-Th)/He zircon (ZDD) geochronology, yielded the first internally consistent eruption ages controlled by detailed volcanostratigraphic mapping. Concordant 36Cl ages of 4.7 ± 0.6 ka (errors 1σ) were obtained for a cone-breaching lava flow. ZDD ages for crustal xenoliths from scoria deposits directly overlying the footprints yielded an age of 4.7 ± 0.7 ka. This firmly places the Çakallar eruption and prehistoric human footprints, and plausibly the rock art, into the Bronze Age, reinforcing the notion that prehistoric artwork recorded natural events.