ABSTRACT
This chapter presents results of a detailed investigation of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption that took place c 40,000 BP. It shows that the potential impacts of the underrated eruption, in combination with other environmental factors, demand a reconsideration of the processes and rhythms that took place in western Eurasia at a crucial point in time represented by the so-called Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. It then outlines steps towards a model of accelerated, selective change within a framework of fundamental continuity a model of change within continuity in the advanced Palaeolithic of western Eurasia. The chapter shows that the CI critical role is best seen as precipitating conditions for change in evolving, highly multivariate human ecosystems. It suggests that the CI-related feedback interfered with pre-existing conditions and processes in the western Eurasian Palaeolithic, acting on them in various possible ways arresting, disrupting, or reorientating them as a catalytic agent, according to situations and regions.
