Tambora caldera.A team of volcanologists claims to have rediscovered the lost kingdom of Tambora. In April 1815, a volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa buried the kingdom and resulted in the deaths of some 90,000 people. The event, which generated an extended episode of global cooling, still ranks as the largest and deadliest eruption in recorded history.
In 2004, a team led by Haraldur Sigurdsson of the University of Rhode Island (URI), Narragansett, excavated a wooden house buried below a 3-meter-deep gully in the volcanic deposits. There they found the bones of two adults as well as artifacts including bronze bowls and ceramic pots. Team member Lewis Abrams, a geophysicist at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, says the house was clearly destroyed by the eruption, as evidenced by the finding of melted glass and carbonized wood beams. Sigurdsson says this site must be Tambora, which was known throughout the East Indies for its honey and wood products, because no other sites in the vicinity have yielded significant artifacts.
The team plans to return next year, and Sigurdsson hopes to unearth a palace he believes is buried there. But some researchers question the magnitude of the find. Roland Fletcher, an archaeologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, says he doubts that the community was powerful enough to boast a palace. URI announced the discovery last week; a spokesperson says the team had delayed going public due to an agreement with National Geographic.
CREDIT: HARALDUR SIGURDSSON
