Washington: A supervolcano eruption about 74,000 years ago on the site of present-day Lake Toba on Indonesia's island of Sumatra caused a large-scale environmental calamity that may have decimated Stone Age human populations in parts of the world. But some populations, it seems, endured what became known as Toba catastrophe, unscathed.

Scientists say excavations at two nearby archeological sites on South Africa's southern coast turned up microscopic shards of volcanic glass from the Mount Toba eruption, which occurred about 9000 kilometres away.

While some research indicates the eruption may have triggered a decades-long global "volcanic winter" that damaged ecosystems and deprived people of food resources, the scientists found evidence that the hunter-gatherers at these sites continued to thrive.

The shards were found at a rock shelter located on a promontory called Pinnacle Point near the town of Mossel Bay where people lived, cooked food and slept, and at an open-air site 6 miles (10 km) away where people fashioned tools of stone, bone and wood.