Remains from a 40,000-year-old site have given archaeologists insight into how our ancestors dealt with prehistoric climate change.

On a number of occasions throughout humanity’s history, volcanic “super eruptions” have caused catastrophic changes to weather and climate with the potential to wipe humans from entire regions.

However, new analysis of a site in Liguria, north west Italy, suggests our ancestors were able to flourish despite just such a crisis unfolding nearby.

According to the archaeologists working at the site, humans today can take lessons from our distant ancestors in contemporary approaches to tackling climate change.

“Liguria is where some of the first Homo sapiens, more or less our direct ancestors, lived in Europe,” said Professor Julien Riel-Salvatore, an archaeologist at the University of Montreal who co-authored the study with his Italian colleague, Dr Fabio Negrino.

“They came after the Neanderthals, and unlike them, when they were faced with sudden changes in their climate they didn’t go locally extinct or abandon the region – they adapted.”

After around 1,000 years of human settlement, the European region was thrown into disarray by a super-eruption in the volcanic Phlegraean Fields, located down the coast from Liguria in southern Italy.

Volcanic eruptions can have significant effects on climate as the ash and gases they emit into the atmosphere can cause havoc with regional temperatures and weather patterns.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University shed new light on early modern human evolution

Such was the scale of the Phlegraean Fields eruption that archaeologists have suggested it played a significant role in the replacement of Neanderthals with modern humans in Europe.

As for why our ancestors were able to adapt while their Neanderthal cousins could not, Professor Riel-Salvatore said his excavations of the Liguria site offered some clues.

“It used to be thought that this wiped out most of the early Homo sapiens in Europe, but we’ve been able to show that some were able to deal with the situation just fine,” he said.

“They survived by dealing with the uncertainty of sudden change.”

Analysis of ancient tools, ornaments and human remains from an ancient rock shelter revealed the region’s ancient settlers were interacting and trading with other groups in far-flung places.

Specifically, the researchers noted that some of the flint being used by the prehistoric Ligurians had its origins hundreds of kilometres away.

“They had a link to people living far away, so that if things went haywire in the territory where they lived, they had the social option of depending on people they’d built relationships with – the broader the network, the easier it was to survive,” said Professor Riel-Salvatore.

The study by Professor Riel-Salvatore and Dr Negrino was published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.

Their discovery adds to a broader body of work – including analysis of human settlements near the site of another super-eruption in Indonesia – that suggests prehistoric humans had an immense capacity to deal with potentially catastrophic events.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

“This seems to be part of a pattern where humans are more adaptable and more resilient in the face of these enormously disruptive events,” said Professor Riel-Salvatore.

“These events can be really terrible, but only in a limited way, not across continents or globally.

Professor Riel-Salvatore said the works show that archaeology is able to “inform the more immediate issues we face” when it comes to climate change today.

As world powers realise the global challenge presented by climate change, more focus has been placed on collaborative efforts such as the Paris climate agreement to address the challenges we face.

“Cooperation and resilient social networks were really key in helping people ride out dramatic climate change in the past,” he said.