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 51-46 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 archaic-modern morphological mosaic among the earliest modern humans in western Eurasia, Tam Pa Ling establishes a definitively modern population in Southeast Asia at &sim50 ka cal BP. As such, it provides the earliest skeletal evidence for fully modern humans in mainland Southeast Asia.
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机译:不确定性围绕着现代人类在东亚和东南亚出现和占领的时间。尽管遗传和考古数据表明至少有60 ka的人口迅速从非洲迁出并进入东南亚,但东南亚大陆以缺乏早期人类现代化石证据而著称。在这里,我们报道了来自老挝坦帕林的现代人类颅骨,该颅骨是从安全的地层环境中回收的。周围沉积物的放射性碳和发光测年表明其最小年龄为51-46 ka,而骨骼的直接U型约会表明最大年龄为〜63 ka。颅骨具有额叶,枕骨,上颌骨和齿列特征的现代人类形态。在时间,枕骨和牙齿形态方面,它也与西方欧亚古人类有所区别。在越来越多的文献记载中,欧亚大陆西部最早的现代人类之间出现了古今形态的马赛克,坦帕灵在&sim50 ka cal BP建立了东南亚的绝对现代人口。因此,它为东南亚大陆的完全现代人类提供了最早的骨骼证据。
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