10 Prehistoric Natural Disasters That Reset Human Civilization

10 Prehistoric Natural Disasters That Reset Human Civilization Number 10: The Volcano That Swallowed a Civilization. Around 1600 BCE, a Mediterranean island called Thera did not simply erupt. It ceased to exist. The explosion tore the island apart with such violence that it registered in Greenland ice cores, Chinese tree rings, and the sediment of lake beds thousands of kilometres away, leaving a signature in the geological record so distinct that scientists have been arguing about its precise date for over a century.