Tam Pa Ling Cave
Region | Annamite Mountains |
---|---|
Coordinates | 20°12′31″N 103°24′35″E / 20.20861°N 103.40972°E |
Altitude | 1,170 m (3,839 ft)[1] |
Type | Cave |
Part of | Pa Hang Mountain |
Length | 40 m (130 ft) |
Width | 30 m (98 ft) |
History | |
Material | limestone, karst |
Periods | Upper Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic |
Associated with | Paleo-humans |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 2008-ongoing[1] |
Archaeologists | Fabrice Demeter, Laura Shackleford |
Tam Pa Ling (Cave of the Monkeys) is a cave in the Annamite Mountains in north-eastern Laos. It is situated at the top of Pa Hang Mountain, 1,170 m (3,840 ft) above sea level.
Three
Location and geology
Tam Pa Ling has a single, south-facing opening and descends 65 m (213 ft) to its main gallery. It is part of a network of
Fossils
Excavations at the eastern end of the cave's main gallery, at the base of the sloped entrance, were conducted by a team of American, French and Laotian researchers starting in 2009.[6][7]
The first fossil find, a hominin skull dubbed TPL1, was recovered at a depth of 2.35 m (7 ft 9 in) in December 2009. A mandible, TPL2, was found the following year at a depth of 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in).
TPL1 includes the
The TPL2 mandible was found lower down in the same stratigraphic unit as TPL1, and represents a mature adult that combines
In 2013, researchers recovered the partial mandible of a third fossil find, TPL3, at a depth of 5.0 m (16.4 ft), from the same area as the previous finds. The bone fragment likely belonged to an adult. Like TPL2, TPL3 exhibits a mix of archaic and anatomically modern human traits, exhibiting modern human features such as having a developed chin but not having a robust mandibular corpus; however, TPL3 also retains archaic human features such as having a broad anterior mandibular arch. Luminescence dating of the TPL3 sediment layer provides a date range from around 70,000 to 48,000 years old.[1]
Significance
The timing of modern human migration from Africa to East Asia is not known with certainty; because bone is poorly preserved in tropical climates, human fossils from the region are rare. Recent discoveries in China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Australia had previously established that archaic human fossils were present between 125,000 and 100,000 BP, and those of modern humans from about 40,000 BP. The discovery of the fully modern TPL1 specimen was therefore considered a major discovery because it filled in a 60,000-year gap in the fossil record, demonstrating the presence of modern humans in Southeast Asia from at least 60,000 BP. Additionally, as Tam Pa Ling lies a thousand miles inland, the finds challenged previous assumptions that humans migrated out of Africa by following coastlines. They suggest that the migration may also have proceeded along river valleys, which served as natural corridors through the continent.[10]
The fossils were temporarily removed to the United States for study by paleoanthropologist Laura Shackleford, Fabrice Demeter and the team. In April 2016 they were returned to Laos, and are now housed in a new building of the Lao National Museum in Vientiane.[11]
See also
- Tham An Mah
- Laang Spean
- Early hominids in Southeast Asia
References
- ^ ISSN 1040-6182.
- ^ "Cave of the Monkeys: Photos Reveal Early Modern Human Remains". Live Science. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ^ "Tam Pa Ling". Anthropology Net. April 11, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-4939-6519-9.
- PMID 22908291. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
- ^ Shackelford, Laura. "Finding a Home for the Bones of Tam Pa Ling". Illinois News Bureau. University of Illinois Urbana-Campaign. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
- ^ a b F. Demeter et al., "Early Modern Humans and Morphological Variation in Southeast Asia: Fossil Evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos", PLOS One, 7 April 2015, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121193. "Ancient Human Fossils from Tam Pa Ling, Laos". Anthropology Net. April 11, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- PMID 25849125.
- ^ "The Woman from Tam Pa Ling". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ^ "Oldest bones from modern humans in Asia discovered". CBSNews. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ^ "Bringing home the bones of Tam Pa Ling". Research News Bureau ILLINOIS. April 13, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.