Access to T3 (lit area)
Photograph: V.C. Hernandez.
Fossils and fires: insights into early modern human activity in the jungles of Southeast Asia – News
At the same time that creationists believe their small god was making a universe consisting of a small flat planet with a dome over it in the Middle East, then magicking a man a d a woman without ancestors, real humans were living in the jungles of Southeast Asia and making camp fires, around which they were probably making up origin myths just like the Middle Eastern Bronze Age pastoralists did. The difference was, their myths didn't get written down and included in a book declared to be the inerrant word of a magic man in the sky, so they aren't available to fool gullible people with today.
Instead, they left tangible records of their activities that scientists are now discovering and dating to between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago; records moreover that if the campfire tales of the Middle East had any truth in them would have been swept away and destroyed or covered with a deep layer of silt containing the bodies and remains of the animals and plants destroyed in the mythical global genocidal flood inflicted on the planet by an irascible magic despot.
Ironically, the human remains found buried in sediment in a cave floor were probably washed into the cave by a local flood, so all the other fossils at that location are also of local species, not the world-wide jumble that a global flood would have produced.
Tell me about the prehistoric history of the humans who occupied the Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos, please.
The Tam Pà Ling cave, located in northern Laos, has yielded some of the most significant prehistoric human remains in Southeast Asia, providing key insights into the early human migrations in the region. The cave, whose name means "Cave of the Monkeys," sits at around 1,170 meters above sea level in the Annamite Mountains, making it an ideal site for shelter during prehistoric times.
Key Findings and Human Occupation
The site became famous when researchers unearthed several human fossils, including a cranium and jawbones, that have been radiocarbon dated between 46,000 and 63,000 years ago. These discoveries suggest that anatomically modern humans (*Homo sapiens*) were present in Southeast Asia much earlier than previously believed. The remains from Tam Pà Ling are considered some of the oldest evidence of modern humans in mainland Asia.
Significance in Human Migration
The fossils found in Tam Pà Ling have played an essential role in understanding the "Out of Africa" migration, where *Homo sapiens* spread from Africa to the rest of the world. The cave’s location, relatively close to the Mekong River, is thought to have been part of a corridor that early humans used as they moved from Africa through the Middle East, into South Asia, and ultimately into Southeast Asia and Australia.
The discovery of such early modern human remains in Laos supports the theory that early humans reached Southeast Asia via inland routes, rather than following only coastal paths. This inland route theory aligns with the ecological diversity of the region, which would have provided rich resources for early hunter-gatherer groups.
Anatomical Evidence
The fossils found in Tam Pà Ling are distinctly modern in their features. The skulls exhibit traits that are fully consistent with *Homo sapiens*, such as a high forehead, rounded braincase, and small, flat faces. However, some subtle characteristics, like thicker bones and robustness, indicate potential regional adaptations or the influence of archaic hominins like *Homo erectus* or *Denisovans*, both of whom were known to have existed in the broader region.
Cultural Context
No significant cultural artifacts, such as tools or other evidence of complex human behavior, have been found alongside the fossils in Tam Pà Ling, which leaves some aspects of the lives of these early inhabitants uncertain. Nonetheless, their presence in the cave hints at how early humans adapted to diverse environments—ranging from highland caves like Tam Pà Ling to coastal areas.
Importance in the Global Human Evolution Story
The discovery of these early human remains in Tam Pà Ling has contributed to the global conversation on human evolution. It suggests that *Homo sapiens* coexisted with archaic hominins in Asia longer than once thought. It also challenges the idea that humans primarily spread through coastal routes, indicating that Southeast Asia was likely populated by multiple waves of migration, using both coastal and inland routes.
The Tam Pà Ling site remains an important location for understanding the complexity of early human migration and the spread of *Homo sapiens* across the globe.
The cave is the Tam Pà Ling cave, located in northern Laos where Laotian, French, American and Australian archaeologists have been working for some 14 years to unearth the secrets contained in it.
Now a new study, led by PhD candidate Vito Hernandez and Associate Professor Mike Morley from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, SA, Australia, has reconstructed the ground conditions inside the cave between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago. They have just published their findings in
Quaternary Science Reviews and announced them in a Flinders University news release:
Fossils and fires: insights into early modern human activity in the jungles of Southeast Asia
Studying microscopic layers of dirt dug from the Tam Pà Ling cave site in northeastern Laos has provided a team of Flinders University archaeologists and their international colleagues further insights into some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia.
The site, which has been studied for the past 14 years by a team of Laotian, French, American and Australian scientists, has produced some of the earliest fossil evidence of our direct ancestors in Southeast Asia.
Excavation of the Tam Pà Ling cave
Now a new study, led by PhD candidate Vito Hernandez and Associate Professor Mike Morley from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, has reconstructed the ground conditions in the cave between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago.
Using a technique known as microstratigraphy at the Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory, we were able to reconstruct the cave conditions in the past and identify traces of human activities in and around Tam Pà Ling. This also helped us to determine the precise circumstances by which some of the earliest modern human fossils found in Southeast Asia were deposited deep inside.
Vito C Hernandez, co-lead author
Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Flinders University, South Australia, Australia.
Microstratigraphy allows scientists to study dirt in its smallest detail, enabling them to observe structures and features that preserve information about past environments and even traces of human and animal activity that may have been overlooked during the excavation process due to their minuscule size.
The human fossils discovered at Tam Pà Ling were deposited in the cave between 86,000–30,000 years ago but until now, researchers had not conducted a detailed analysis of the sediments surrounding these fossils to gain an understanding of how they were deposited in the cave or the environmental conditions at the time.
Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, the findings reveal conditions in the cave fluctuated dramatically, going from a temperate climate with frequent wet ground conditions to becoming seasonally dry.
This change in environment influenced the cave’s interior topography and would have impacted how sediments, including human fossils, were deposited within the cave. How early Homo sapiens came to be buried deep within the cave has long been debated, but our sediment analysis indicates that the fossils were washed into the cave as loose sediments and debris accumulating over time, likely carried by water from surrounding hillsides during periods of heavy rainfall.
Associate Professor ,” says Associate Professor W.M. Morley, co-lead author
Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Flinders University, South Australia, Australia.
The team also identified preserved micro-traces of charcoal and ash in the cave sediments, suggesting that either forest fires occurred in the region during the drier periods, or that humans visiting the cave may have used fire, either in the cave or near the entrance.
This research has allowed our team to develop unprecedented insights into the dynamics of our ancestors as they dispersed through the ever-changing forest covers of Southeast Asia, and during periods of variable regional climate instability.
,Assistant Professor Fabrice Demeter, co-author
Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre
Globe Institute
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
VC Hernandez, MW Morley, AM Bacon, P Duringer, KE Westaway, R Joannes-Boyau, JL Ponche, C Zanolli, P Sichanthongtip, S Boualaphane, T Luangkhoth, JJ Hublin, F Demeter
Late Pleistocene–Holocene (52–10 ka) microstratigraphy, fossil taphonomy and depositional environments from Tam Pa Ling cave (northeastern Laos)
Quaternary Science Reviews (2024) 108982. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108982
Highlights
- Late Pleistocene-Holocene cave sediments from Tam Pà Ling, northeastern Laos, were geoarchaeologically investigated.
- Microstratigraphic analyses were employed.
- Ground and ambient conditions vary in the cave ∼52–10 ka.
Abstract
Fossil evidence for some of the earliest Homo sapiens presence in mainland Southeast Asia have been recovered from Tam Pà Ling (TPL) cave, northeastern Laos. Taphonomic indicators suggest that these human fossils washed into TPL via gradual colluviation at varying times between MIS 5–3, yet no attempt has been made to situate them within the depositional environments of the cave within these periods. This has precluded a deeper appreciation of their presence there and in the surrounding landscape. In this first microstratigraphic study of TPL, we primarily use sediment micromorphology to reconstruct the depositional environments of the cave, relate these environments with the taphonomic history of the human fossils recovered from the upper 4 m of the excavated sequence, and explore how the sediments can better explain the presence of these humans in the area during MIS 3–1 (52–10 ka). Our results demonstrate changes in local ambient conditions from being temperate to arid, with ground conditions often wet during MIS 3 and becoming increasingly seasonal (wet-dry) during MIS 2–1. The changing cave conditions impacted its interior topography and influenced the way sediments (and fossils) were deposited. Preserved combustion biproducts identified in the sediments suggest two possible scenarios, one where small forest fires may have occurred during periods of regional aridity and/or another where humans visited the cave.
1. Introduction
The excavations in Tam Pà Ling (Cave of Monkeys), northeastern Laos (Fig. 1A), have unearthed a fossil assemblage of Homo sapiens that is unique for the study of Late Pleistocene human evolution in Southeast Asia (SEA) (Demeter et al., 2012; Demeter et al., 2015; Demeter et al., 2017; Shackelford et al., 2018; Freidline et al., 2023). The fossil assemblage is formed of a partial cranium (TPL1), two mandibles (TPL2, TPL3), a partial rib (TPL4), a proximal pedal phalanx (TPL5), a partial frontal (TPL6), and a tibial fragment (TPL7), all excavated from a trench situated deep inside the cave. Although disarticulated, the fossils otherwise display minimal evidence of remobilisation or physical abrasion, a rare occurrence from the region (Lee and Hudock, 2021; Sawafuji et al., 2024). As such, the fossils have helped demonstrate the major morphological variations that existed between the different populations of Homo sapiens in SEA during the Late Pleistocene (Demeter et al., 2017), consequently making Tam Pà Ling (TPL) a key site for the study of the evolution and dispersal of our species in the Far East (Matsumura et al., 2019; Demeter and Bae, 2020; Hublin, 2021.1; McAllister et al., 2022; Sawafuji et al., 2024).
Fig. 1. (
A) Location of Tam Pà Ling (20°12′33.41"N, 103°24′22.02"E). Red square indicates the study area. (
B) Pà Hang hill with Tam Pà Ling and other studied sites labelled (Photograph: P. Duringer) (
C) Access to T3 (lit area) (Photograph: V.C. Hernandez). (
D) Plan of Tam Pà Ling (Redrawn after J.-L. Ponche and P. Duringer). (
E) Studied section showing locations of micromorphological sampling and levels where
TPL1,
2, and
5 were recovered (dashed orange line)
Photograph V.C. Hernandez.
While the ages of the fossils from TPL are well-constrained, the absence of artefacts or occupation surfaces found to date suggests that humans did not intensively occupy the cave during the Late Pleistocene. However, evidence of human presence and occupation at neighbouring sites spanning the Middle Pleistocene to Late Holocene (Demeter et al., 2009; Patole-Edoumba, 2015.1; Bacon et al., 2021.3; Demeter et al., 2022.2, Fig. 1B), and the presence of the fossils from TPL, suggest that humans may have at least visited sporadically or used the cave in the past, even briefly. If so, then traces of their activities from the entrance or even inside might still be preserved, although likely in small quantities, probably degraded, diagenetically altered, or buried beneath limestone slabs.
The research at TPL has simultaneously highlighted the scientific challenges of understanding archaeological site formation processes in the hot and humid tropics (Morley and Goldberg, 2017.2 and references therein), and the need to better understand geomorphological processes that affect the interpretation and dating of fossils from cave sites (Liu et al., 2015.2; Westaway et al., 2017.3; Yao et al., 2020.1). These challenges are made more difficult by the erratic preservation of organic materials in tropical cave environments (Louys et al., 2017.4 and references therein; Smith et al., 2020.2 and references therein), and therefore demand the systematic evaluation of the stratigraphy of a site with the potential to yield bioarchaeological data (e.g., aDNA, proteins) that can inform about humans and their environments in the past (Massilani et al., 2022.3; Morley et al., 2023.1; Aldeias and Stahlschmidt, 2024.2). It is for these reasons that there is a need to better understand the stratigraphy of TPL at various spatial scales (vertical and horizontal) and at finer resolution, with research from other sites in SEA suggesting a geoarchaeology-focused approach to achieve this (O'Connor et al., 2010; Morley, 2017.5).
Sediment micromorphology (microstratigraphy) is one method employed in geoarchaeological research that can help to better understand the geomorphological and site formation processes governing TPL. Research employing this method to study the critical sites for understanding early human evolution and dispersals in SEA show that microstratigraphy can provide a more nuanced picture of local environments in the past, help to reveal more about human adaptations to the different environmental conditions that existed, and temporally resolve the presence of humans on-site and in the immediate catchment (Stephens et al., 2005, 2017.6; Lewis, 2007; Brasseur et al., 2015.3; Mijares, 2017.7; Morley et al., 2017.8; McAdams et al., 2020.3; Anderson et al., 2024.3; Shipton et al., 2024.4). With these in mind, a program of microstratigraphic analysis at TPL was initiated to gain further insights into the history of the site and the taphonomy of the Homo sapiens fossils recovered from there.
To improve the understanding of the history of the site and taphonomy of Homo sapiens fossils recovered from TPL we link the results of the microstratigraphic analysis with loss-on-ignition (LOI) and magnetic susceptibility (χ) analysis of sediments. Both methods provide quick to obtain and accurate determinations of geochemical characteristics that can complement the interpretation of the microstratigraphic record (Stoops, 1978; Macphail and Goldberg, 2017.9). LOI, for instance, has complemented microstratigraphic analysis of archaeological cave sites in Malaysia, northern Vietnam and Thailand, resulting in a clearer understanding of the depositional environments that existed in these caves in the past (Hunt et al., 2007.1; Stephens et al., 2016; McAdams et al., 2020.3; Saminpanya and Denkitkul, 2020.4). While χ has been used at TPL to infer moisture availability that helped to reconstruct the vegetation surrounding the cave during the Late Pleistocene (Milano et al., 2018.1) and allowed insights into the timing of sediment delivery into the cave during periods of strengthened monsoons (Freidline et al., 2023). By linking the results of these analyses with that of the microstratigraphy, it is hoped that a clearer understanding of site formation and better explanation of the presence of humans at TPL is achieved.
Here, we present the results of the program to analyse the microstratigraphy, LOI and χ of sediments in TPL. Our geoarchaeological work aims to prove the efficacy of a microstratigraphic approach to understanding the important stratigraphy of the site by reconstructing its ground conditions, clarifying the taphonomic history of the fossils related to the depositional history of the cave, and exploring the potential archaeology within its sediments. By doing so, we try to resolve how past conditions in TPL (sediment, cave, and catchment) affect the interpretation of human presence at the site and explore how this information changes the narrative of Late Pleistocene human evolution and dispersals in the Far East. We focus the analyses on the upper 4 m Late Pleistocene–Holocene sediment sequence exposed in the 7 m-deep excavation inside the cave. This upper sequence was securely dated to between 46 ± 6 ka and 13 ± 3 ka (Freidline et al., 2023) and was where the human fossils TPL1, 2 and 5 were recovered (Demeter et al., 2012, Demeter et al., 2015, Demeter et al., 2017).
The refutation of creationism continues unabated. Not only were there people living in South East Asia tens of thousands of years before creationists think Earth was created by magic, but the remains proving it were washed into the cave by a local flood, which, had it been anything resembling creationism's favourite genocidal flood, would also have washed in non-local debris. And that simply never happened, then or later.
And, to make it doubly difficult for creationists to explain without the usual lies and misrepresentations of the dating methods used, the authors have allowed for possible errors by using the
minimum ages of the fossils. In other words, if creationists are right about errors in the dating methods, these fossils are even
older than creationists dogma says they should be.
And so creationism staggers on under the load of yet more evidence that it is just a childish fairytale.
