Tam Pa Ling Cave

Tam Pa Ling Cave
	South entrance to the cave
	location in Laos
Alternative name	Cave of the Monkeys
Location	Houaphanh Province, northern Laos 260 km (160 mi) NNE of Vientiane
Region	Annamite Mountains
Coordinates	20°12′31″N 103°24′35″E / 20.20861°N 103.40972°E
Altitude	1,170 m (3,839 ft)
Type	Cave
Part of	Pa Hang Mountain
Length	40 m (130 ft)
Width	30 m (98 ft)
History
Material	limestone, karst
Periods	Upper Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic
Associated with	Paleo-humans
Site notes
Excavation dates	2008-ongoing
Archaeologists	Fabrice Demeter, Laura Shackleford

Tam Pa Ling (Cave of the Monkeys) is a cave in the Annamite Mountains in north-eastern Laos. It is situated at the top of Pa Hang Mountain, 1,170 m (3,840 ft) above sea level.

Three hominin fossils have been discovered in the cave: TPL1, a skull belonging to an anatomically modern human; TPL2, a mandible with both modern and archaic traits; and TPL3, a partial mandible with both modern and archaic traits. The three fossils represent three separate individuals and date from around 70,000 to 46,000 years old.^[1] The discoveries indicate that modern humans may have migrated to Southeast Asia by 60,000 BP.^[2]^[3]^[4]

^ ^a ^b ^c Cite error: The named reference ShackelfordDemeter2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Cave of the Monkeys: Photos Reveal Early Modern Human Remains". Live Science. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
^ "Tam Pa Ling". Anthropology Net. April 11, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
^ Marwick, Ben; Bouasisengpaseuth, Bounheung (2017). "The History and Practice of Archaeology in Laos". Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer New York: 89–95. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_8. ISBN 978-1-4939-6519-9.

[ShackelfordDemeter2017-1] Cite error: The named reference ShackelfordDemeter2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] "Cave of the Monkeys: Photos Reveal Early Modern Human Remains". Live Science. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2016.

[3] "Tam Pa Ling". Anthropology Net. April 11, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2016.

[4] Marwick, Ben; Bouasisengpaseuth, Bounheung (2017). "The History and Practice of Archaeology in Laos". Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer New York: 89–95. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_8. ISBN 978-1-4939-6519-9.

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