| Abstract: |
Modern human emergence and occupation in East and Southeast Asia occurred ca. 100-70 thousand years ago (Ka). However, following a gap in the East/Southeast Asian hominin fossil record from 100-60 Ka, the earliest paleoanthropological evidence of definitively modern human occupation is at Tam Pa Ling Cave, Laos (ca.50-60 Ka), followed by Tianyuan Cave, China (ca. 40 Ka) and the recently re-evaluated Wadjak remains, Indonesia (ca. 30 Ka). Genetic data, however, indicate that humans migrated out of Africa using a southern route into Southeast Asia by at least 60 Ka before continuing northward into East Asia. Patterns of genetic variation in recent human populations as well as results from recent studies of ancient DNA point to Southeast Asia as an important source for the peopling of East Asia. As the geographic intersection of migratory paths, Laos is a very promising Southeast Asian country for palaeoanthropology. We present here the recently discovered Tam Pa Ling site and human fossil remains, a partial cranium (TPL1) and mandible (TPL2). TPL1 offers the earliest secure evidence for fully modern human morphology in the region. TPL2 provides secure evidence for contemporaneous archaic and early modern human morphology. Both TPL1 and TPL2 provide a minimal baseline for the co-existence of archaic and modern human biology and for the spread of modern human biology in eastern Eurasia and Australasia.
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