Prehistoric human responses to volcanic tephra fall events in the Ust-Kamchatsk region, Kamchatka Peninsula (Kamchatsky Krai, Russian Federation) during the middle to late Holocene (6000–500 cal BP)

• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.07.033
• Publication Date: 2015-08-10T15:30:58Z
• Authors: I. Florin Pendea; Hans Harmsen; Dustin Keeler; Ezra B.W. Zubrow; Gregory Korosec; Erika Ruhl; Irina Ponkratova; Eva Hulse
• Keywords: Peninsula; Tephrochronology

Abstract Prehistoric peoples in Kamchatka coped with recurrent volcanic tephra fall events during the middle to late Holocene. Recent data collected by the International Collaborative Circumpolar Archaeological Project (ICAAP) between 2009 and 2011 explores the long-term relationships between drastic landscape change and concomitant human response. A combination of new archaeological, paleoenvironmental and tephrochronological data demonstrate how the major Ksudach 1750 cal BP (KS1) eruption accelerated settlement relocation from the interior to the paleo-coastline.