A skull found in 1929 in Aitape , northerly Papua New Guinea , has been identified as coming from a tsunami victim , the oldest example we know of .
When geologist Paul Hossfeld found the Aitape skull , it arouse interest because it was at first call back to have belong toHomo erectus , but has since been identified as being from a modern human who inhabit approximately 6,000 days ago . Palaeontologists have continued to learn it as one of the earlier examples of human remains from the area .
Dr Mark Golitkoof the University of Notre Dame consider the skull sufficiently crucial to conduct a team to Aitape to examine the post where it was ground , search evidence of what toss off its unfortunate owner . " We do n’t roll in the hay exactly where Hossfeld find the skull , but I think we were within 100 meters of the original location based on his description , ” Golitko said in astatement .
psychoanalysis applied science has improved a lot in 88 years , admit Golitko and his partner to study the sand on the beach and the carapace stick there . The sediments from which the skull was extracted were rich indiatomshells – single - celled maritime being whose shells provide a riches of information about the temperature and salt of where they uprise . These shells have been fail in a way that can only chance in very gamy vigor piss .
Along with the size of the deposit grains and the local alchemy , all this pointed to a tsunami sweeping the diatoms onto land and pulverizing them in the operation . Papua New Guinea has lose several devastating tsunami in late decades , include one in Aitape itself that kill 2,000 people in 1998 , so this indicates the expanse was likewise seismically fickle at the time .
Indeed the similarity between the sediment in which the skull was found , and those deposit in 1998 , increase the team ’s confidence in their findings . InPLOS ONEthey argue the skull belong to someone who was killed and buried in the tsunami , or had died previously and been buried nearby , with the tsunami disturbing the grave website so the skull became mixed with sediment .
The skull date stamp back to one of the few stop in the last few million age when sea levels , at least locally , were higher than they are today . Consequently , even though the skull was plant quite a way inland from the ocean , the tsunami occurred at a time when the location would have been more vulnerable to threats from the seas .
