Dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam

Russell Ciochon; Vu The Long; Roy Larick; Luis Gonzalez; Rainer Gruen; John de Vos; Charles Yonge; Lois Taylor; Hiroyuki Yoshida; Mark Reagan

doi:10.1073/pnas.93.7.3016

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Dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam

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Dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam

Russell Ciochon, Vu The Long, Roy Larick, Luis Gonzalez, Rainer Gruen, John de Vos, Charles Yonge, Lois Taylor, Hiroyuki Yoshida and Mark Reagan

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.93(7), pp.3016-3020

04/02/1996

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.93.7.3016

PMCID: PMC39753

PMID: 8610161

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Abstract

Tham Khuyen Cave (Lang Son Province, northern Vietnam) is one of the more significant sites to yield fossil vertebrates in east Asia. During the mid-1960s, excavation in a suite of deposits produced important hominoid dental remains of middle Pleistocene age. We undertake more rigorous analyses of these sediments to understand the fluvial dynamics of Pleistocene cave infilling as they determine how skeletal elements accumulate within Tham Khuyen and other east Asian sites. Uranium/thorium series analysis of speleothems brackets the Pleistocene chronology for breaching, infilling, and exhuming the regional paleokarst. Clast analysis indicates sedimentary constituents, including hominoid teeth and cranial fragments accumulated from very short distances and under low fluvial energy. Electron spin resonance analysis of vertebrate tooth enamel and sediments shows that the main fossil-bearing suite (S1-S3) was deposited about 475 thousand years ago. Among the hominoid teeth excavated from S1-S3, some represent Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus blacki. Criteria are defined to differentiate these teeth from more numerous Pongo pygmaeus elements. The dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus blacki at Tham Khuyen helps to establish the long co-existence of these two species throughout east Asia during the Early and Middle Pleistocene.

absolute age

Asia

Binh Gia Vietnam

Cenozoic

Chordata

dates

depositional environment

enamel

EPR spectra

Eutheria

Far East

fossil localities

fossil man

Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus blacki

Hominidae

Homo

Homo erectus

Lang Song Vietnam

Lang Vech Vietnam

Mammalia

microfossils

middle Pleistocene

miospores

northern Vietnam

palynomorphs

Pleistocene

pollen

pollen analysis

Pongidae

Primates

Quaternary

Quaternary geology

simians

solution features

spectra

speleothems

teeth

Tetrapoda

Th/U

Than Khuyen Cave

thanatocenoses

Theria

Vertebrata

Vertebrate paleontology

Vietnam

Details

Title: Subtitle: Dated co-occurrence of Homo erectus and Gigantopithecus from Tham Khuyen Cave, Vietnam
Creators: Russell Ciochon - University of Iowa
Vu The Long
Roy Larick
Luis Gonzalez
Rainer Gruen
John de Vos
Charles Yonge
Lois Taylor
Hiroyuki Yoshida
Mark Reagan
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.93(7), pp.3016-3020
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.93.7.3016
PMID: 8610161
PMCID: PMC39753
NLM abbreviation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN: 0027-8424
eISSN: 1091-6490
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Language: English
Date published: 04/02/1996
Academic Unit: Anthropology; Earth and Environmental Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984229297302771

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