SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

Not strictly an archaeology story, but readers with an interest in primate anthropoid fossils might be interested in this story. (8/1 update: Raymond notes that the terminology used in the article is wrong, and that it’s not so much a primate as much as an anthropoid.)

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Oldest primate fossils found
Bangkok Post, 07 January 2010
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A nearly-intact skeleton of an ancient skeleton was unearthed near the small town of Blora in Java. The elephant was estimated to have lived between one to two million years ago, possibly rubbing shoulders with the homo erectus. The fossil was excavate with the help of experts from Australia, and is on display at the Geology Museum in Bandung.

photo credit: wonker

Ancient Elephant Unearthed in Java
Jakarta Globe, 11 June 2009
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It’s the news like these that reminds us about how much more there is to know about human evolution. This time, an exciting fossil discovery of the jawbone and teeth of an extinct primate species has been found near Bagan, in Myanmar. The now-dubbed Ganlea megacanina was a common ancestor to humans and apes who lived 38 million years ago. The added significance of the date is that it lends support to the thesis that the common ancestor of humans and apes came not from Africa, but perhaps from Asia instead. I’ll expect we’ll revisit this idea in time to come, until more fossils are found – if they can survive this long.

Myanmar fossil may shed light on evolution
AP, 02 July 2009

A new primate from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar and the monophyly of Burmese amphipithecids
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 01 July 2009
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You know it’s a sign of hobbit-fatigue when a new claim about the hobbit pops up, and all you can say is, “…uh-huh.” This new claim swings the pendulum back to the “new species” camp, after a new study compared the cranial morphology of the hobbit with a simulated 3D model of a hominid with the same size. The correlations in the 3D model seem to indicate that the hobbit fits the parameters of a small hominid rather than a human, deformed or otherwise.

Of course, this is not the last we are going to hear about the issue. I doubt detractors are going to accept the hobbit-as-a-separate thesis on the basis that the hobbit’s cranium fits the prediction by a computer model. Incidentally, the Journal of Human Evolution has a whole series of papers published around the same time about the Flores skeletons and archaeological material, including descriptions of the Hobbit skeletons.

‘Hobbit’ Fossils Represent A New Species, Concludes Anthropologist
Science Daily, 17 Dec 2008

Size, shape, and asymmetry in fossil hominins: The status of the LB1 cranium based on 3D morphometric analyses
Journal of Human Evolution, 04 December 2008
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The Viet Nam Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources is set to publish a laboriously-compiled atlas of Vietnam’s palaeontology next year.

Scientists map out VN’s palaeontology
Viet Nam News, 29 July 2008
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Numerous fossil finds in the Patiayam have shown that the mountainous region in Java is rich with faunal remains dating back to a million years BP. The potential richness of these finds have been compared to the other famous prehistoric site Sangiran. However, there has been little able to be done with these finds due to a lack of resources and funding.

Patiayam: Site of great fossil finds
The Jakarta Post, 15 February 2008
Link is not static, and the story remains on the Jakarta Post website for seven days.
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A newly-defined disease is speculated a possible explanation of the hobbit: the disease causes decreased stature and growth, but also allows for normal intelligence to develop.

“Hobbits” May Have Been Genetic Mutants
National Geographic News, 03 January 2008
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