Footprints of early hominids preserved in volcanic ash demonstrate that human cultures have been interacting with natural hazards since the dawn of time. This book explores these interactions in great detail and revisits some famous catastrophes; including the eruptions of Thera and Vesuvius. Less well known but equally catastrophic events are also explored and they include volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes and shipwrecks. Case studies range widely from ancient societies in Peru, North America, Japan and the Pacific to pollution emitted by an Icelandic volcano in the eighteenth century AD up to modern disasters in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
At its heart this book explores the role played by catastrophic natural events in generating cultural change. Previous research has adopted a simplistic approach, correlating the scale of the event with the scale of human response. In contrast, these studies demonstrate that diverse human cultures had well-developed and coherent strategies which facilitated their response to extreme natural events. Particular attention is paid to the decision-making processes apparent in the ancient record and the actions of human cultures from hunter-gatherer bands to complex settled civilizations.
The authors also explore theoretical issues and provide researchers with the conceptual tools to allow them to determine when a natural event becomes a cultural disaster. By studying the impact of hazards upon human cultures in a wide variety of contexts, the book is extremely useful to academics, scholars and professionals.