ere stabilizing after the ice ages, the climate was beginning to stabilize and these coastal environments were first forming,” Golitko told Live Science.
In fact, what was formerly a steep cliff coastline in Papua New Guinea likely became accessible to people for the first time due to rising sea levels, Terrell said. Meanwhile, newly forming lagoons, river deltas and lakes transformed coastlines into places where people wanted to live, he said.
Hazards in paradise
But life on the coast came with hazards, too. Coastal communities were highly vulnerable to tsunamis and were also subjected to the cycle of droughts and drenching rains brought by climate patterns El Niño and La Niña, Terrell told Live Science.
“It looks like paradise,” he said. “But if we’re right about the frequency of tsunamis, and if we add in the periods of drought and periods of incredible rain associated with El Niño and La Niña, then it suddenly begins to look like you’re kind of trapped.”
Studying this region and its clues from the past could help researchers better understand the strategies used by people thousands of years ago to mitigate these environmental risks, and could hold important lessons for addressing similar risks faced by coastal communities today, Golitko added.
“This is a story that has thousands of years of history that we’re still seeing today,” Golitko said. “It’s a great place to live on one hand, and it’s a really bad place to live on another — and that’s something that has a resonant message for the modern age.”
The findings were published online today (Oct. 25) in the journal PLOS ONE.
Original article on Live Science.