Ancient disasters: Chile’s tsunami terrified locals for 1,000 years

A tsunami 3,800 years ago devastated Chile’s coast and encouraged fishermen and gatherers to move inland, where they stayed for the next 1,000 years.

Humans April 6, 2022

Written by Michael Marshall

Atacama desert in Chile

shutterstock/galaxy

An earthquake as large as any in recorded history struck the coast of Chile about 3,800 years ago, causing a tsunami that wreaked havoc along 1,000 kilometers of the coast. In the aftermath of the tsunami, local fishermen began spending less time near the coast and moved the tombs inland, remaining there for 1,000 years or more, although there is no writing system to convey information about the disaster.

It’s a great example of a society transforming itself to deal with natural threats, say researchers who studied the event.

The team, led by Gabriel Easton at the University of Chile in Santiago, spent years in the Atacama Desert on the west coast of South America, collecting evidence of an ancient tsunami.

At multiple locations, they found a distinct layer of sediment thrown up by the tsunami. Radiocarbon dates from coal and shells in archaeological deposits directly above the tsunami deposits indicate that this occurred about 3800 years ago.

Eugenia Gayo, director of the Millennium Nucleus Upwell in Concepción, Chile, says it’s impressive that the team has found evidence of such a wide area. “She is strong.”

The coast of Chile lies in a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate that makes up the Earth’s surface is forced under another. As a result, the region is prone to large earthquakes. However, the written record in this region is very short, so it is unclear how large the earthquakes are and how often the largest of them occur.

“We suggest that this earthquake is similar to the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile,” Easton says. “This is the largest earthquake ever recorded in history.” The Valdivia earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5, and Easton’s team says the earthquake 3,800 years ago was similar.

In theory, the Valdivia earthquake could have been a one-off event caused by a very rare set of conditions, Easton says. But if a similar earthquake occurred in the past 5,000 years, that cannot be true. “This is our suggestion, that this area in northern Chile is capable of causing earthquakes of this magnitude,” he says.

Easton says other subduction zones may have been underestimated, too. He points to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which wreaked havoc in Japan. Many seismologists believe that the region can only produce earthquakes of magnitude 8.3, but the Tohoku earthquake was 9.0 or 9.1.

People have lived in the Atacama for more than 12,000 years. Although there is little rainfall in the desert, the marine ecosystems along the coast are rich, so hunter-gatherer communities thrived.

However, Easton and his team documented major transformations that occurred about 3,800 years ago. Archaeological sites near the coast show less evidence of habitation, suggesting that people stopped going there or at least spent less time there.

Moreover, the tombs were moved inland and up the hills. Locals embalmed the bodies of their relatives and attached great importance to the presence of their dead ancestors nearby – a practice that continues to this day in Andean communities. “The most important thing families and communities had at the time was their parents,” Easton says, and they took a lot of care in protecting them.

This new pattern of behavior persisted for a long time, with many sites only reoccupied between 1500 and 1000 years ago. “This is kind of a surprise, because people usually have a short memory of this kind of event,” Gayo says. Even maintaining the behavior for 1,000 years would have meant maintaining it for 40 generations. “That’s a lot.”

It is not clear how the memory was preserved. Easton says the message may have been conveyed orally, possibly through images on the stone.

For Gayo, the lesson is that sometimes big changes are necessary to adapt to natural hazards. This includes modern societies threatened by increasing climate variability and rising sea levels. “You need a drastic change,” she says.

Journal reference: Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.abm2996

Subscribe to Our Human Story, a free monthly newsletter on the revolution in archeology and human evolution

More on these topics:

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos