| Ref ID: | 28300 |
|---|---|
| Ref Type: | Journal Article |
| Authors: | Demeter, Fabrice Shackelford, Laura L. Bacon, Anne-Marie Duringer, Philippe Westaway, Kira Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy, Braga, José Phonephanh Sichanthongtip, Phimmasaeng Khamdalavong, Ponche, Jean-Luc Hong Wang, Lundstrom, Craig Patole-Edoumb |
| Title: | Anatomically modern human in Southeast Asia (Laos) by 46 ka |
| Date: | 2012 |
| Source: | PNAS |
| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.1208104109 |
| Notes: | The "author" line ran out of characters, but the last two authors are Patole-Edoumba, Elise and Karpoff, Anne-Marie |
| Abstract: | Uncertainties surround the timing of modern human emergence and occupation in East and Southeast Asia. Although genetic and archeological data indicate a rapid migration out of Africa and into Southeast Asia by at least 60 ka, mainland Southeast Asia is notable for its absence of fossil evidence for early modern human occupation. Here we report on a modern human cranium from Tam Pa Ling, Laos, which was recovered from a secure stratigraphic context. Radiocarbon and luminescence dating of the surrounding sediments provide a minimum age of 5146 ka, and direct U-dating of the bone indicates a maximum age of ∼63 ka. The cranium has a derived modern human morphology in features of the frontal, occipital, maxillae, and dentition. It is also differentiated from western Eurasian archaic humans in aspects of its temporal, occipital, and dental morphology. In the context of an increasingly documented archaicmodern morphological mosaic among the earliest modern humans in western Eurasia, Tam Pa Ling establishes a definitively modern population in Southeast Asia at ∼50 ka cal BP. As such, it provides the earliest skeletal evidence for fully modern humans in mainland Southeast Asia. |
| Date Created: | 11/26/2013 |
| Volume: | 109 |
| Number: | 36 |
| Page Start: | 14375 |
| Page End: | 14380 |