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1st July 2023 (7 Topics)

Human existence in Tam Pa Ling Cave

Context

According to a recent research published in Nature Communications, it was found that more human remains found in Tam Pà Ling and even more is about to get disclosed in the region about human existence.

Key findings:

  • The research revealed that humans were present in the vicinity of Tam Pà Ling Cave for roughly 56,000 years.
  • It also confirmed that, far from reflecting a rapid dump of sediments, the site contains sediments that accumulated steadily over some 86,000 years.
  • The age of the lowest fossil, a fragment of a leg bone found seven metres deep, suggests modern humans arrived in this region between 86,000 and 68,000 years 
  • Even researchers found a tooth some 150,000 years old belonging to a ‘Denisovan’.
  • This suggests the site may lie on a previously used dispersal route among

Key Facts about Tam Pà Ling Cave:

  • It is a sloping cave situated high in the Annamite mountain range in Northern Laos.
  • The stratigraphy of the site indicates formation by periodic slope wash deposition from the muddy slope at the entrance of the cave.

Who are Denisovans?

  • They are extinct human relatives otherwise known only from remains found in Siberia and Tibet.
  • They lived lakhs of years ago, coexisting with Neanderthals in some regions and interbreeding with early modern humans in some cases. 
  • They were first identified as a separate species in 2010, following the discovery of a fragment of a finger bone and two teeth, dating back to about 40,000 years ago, in the Denisovan Cave in Siberia.

Why these findings are significant?

  • It was known that Denisovans were only found in cold and high-altitude regions such as in Siberia and the Himalayas.
  • This discovery proves that they were also adapted to a warm environment.
  • Meaning that they had very large flexibility of adaptation.

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