On the island of Sumatra some 74,000 years ago, an erupting supervolcano wreaked havoc, sending up plumes of ash and debris that spread for thousands of miles and caused temperatures to plummet.

The eruption’s effects were felt as far away as southern Africa, where they would have impacted early humans. Some scientists have even suggested that the Toba supereruption was so powerful, it pushed our ancestors to the brink of extinction around the time humans were first venturing out of Africa.

“Toba is the largest eruption on Earth in the last two million years,” says Gene Smith, a geologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

However, some humans not only survived but thrived after Toba, judging by the artifacts they created