| Abstract: |
This paper examines the changes in taxonomic diversity and demography of faunal assemblages hunted by the human inhabitants of the Tham Lod and Ban Rai rockshelters in the Pang Mapha highlands of northwestern Thailand during the Late Pleistocene (MIS 2-1) to Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Evidence from these excavated sites indicates that environmental changes influenced animal dispersal from high latitudes to the highland region of Pang Mapha. During the Late Pleistocene the taxonomic diversity was dominated by Cervidae and Testudines, with other faunal remains representing Himalayan goral, Suidae and Bovidae. A ternary analysis of the Suidae indicates a mixed pattern, mostly represented by Juveniles-Prime-Old (JPO), with the Prime dominating (Bovinae and Caprinae). By the Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene, Cercopithecidae had become dominant and the Himalayan goral absent, and presumably extinct. According to the changes in taxonomic diversity and the paleodemographic data obtained from the Pang Mapha faunal assemblages, we have increased our understanding of paleoenvironments and subsistence strategies during the Late-Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene.
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