| The Lost Indonesian Civilization Was Unearthed -
28-02-2006, 07:06 AM
On April 10, 1815, took place the largest volcanic eruption in human history. Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa ejected up to 100 cubic kilometers of magma and pulverized rock, and it spewed ash and 400 million tons of sulfurous gases 44 kilometers into the atmosphere. The gases that lingered in the atmosphere caused a year of global cooling in 1816 that is now known as “the year without a summer”. The effects were felt worldwide: in France and Germany, grape and corn crops died, and crops in Maine suffered frosts in June, July and August.
However, the local effects were more tremendous. The volcano literally wiped out the local civilization killing around 100 000 people by burying them under ash. The Tambora civilization had just been discovered by Dutch and British explorers who visited the Sumbawa Island in the early 1800s. According to Professor Haraldur Sigurdsson, who has now unearthed the remnants of this civilization, the explorers were surprised to hear a language that didn't sound like any other spoken in Indonesia. However,
"the explosion wiped out the language. That’s how big it was," Sigurdsson said. "But we’re trying to get these people to speak again, by digging."
Using radar, the US and Indonesian researchers have managed to find a village preserved in the same manner as the Roman town of Pompeii, which was destroyed by Vesuvius' eruption. “All the people, their houses and culture are still encapsulated there as they were in 1815. It’s important that we keep that capsule intact and open it very carefully.”, said Sigurdsson
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