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24-468: 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. The discoveries indicate that modern humans may have migrated to Southeast Asia by 60,000 BP . Tam Pa Ling has

48-746: A taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: Homo ( humans ) and Pan ( chimpanzees and bonobos ), but in standard usage exclude the genus Gorilla ( gorillas ), which is grouped separately within subfamily Homininae. The term Hominini was originally introduced by Camille Arambourg (1948), who combined the categories of Hominina and Simiina pursuant to Gray 's classifications (1825). Traditionally, chimpanzees , gorillas and orangutans were grouped together, excluding humans, as pongids . Since Gray's classifications, evidence accumulating from genetic phylogeny confirmed that humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas are more closely related to each other than to

72-434: A "proto-human" or "pre-human" lineage separate from Pan appears to have been a process of complex speciation - hybridization rather than a clean split, taking place over the period of anywhere between 13 Mya (close to the age of the tribe Hominini itself) and some 4 Mya. Different chromosomes appear to have split at different times, with broad-scale hybridization activity occurring between the two emerging lineages as late as

96-729: A broad anterior mandibular arch. Luminescence dating of the TPL3 sediment layer provides a date range from around 70,000 to 48,000 years old. The timing of modern human migration from Africa to East Asia is not known with certainty; because bone is poorly preserved in tropical climates, human fossils from the region are rare. Recent discoveries in China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Australia had previously established that archaic human fossils were present between 125,000 and 100,000 BP, and those of modern humans from about 40,000 BP. The discovery of

120-477: A single, south-facing opening and descends 65 m (213 ft) to its main gallery. It is part of a network of karst caves, formed by the dissolution of limestone beds that were laid down between the Upper Carboniferous and Permian periods. The main gallery measures 30 m (98 ft) from north to south and 40 m (130 ft) from east to west. Excavations at the eastern end of

144-417: A third fossil find, TPL3 , at a depth of 5.0 m (16.4 ft), from the same area as the previous finds. The bone fragment likely belonged to an adult. Like TPL2 , TPL3 exhibits a mix of archaic and anatomically modern human traits, exhibiting modern human features such as having a developed chin but not having a robust mandibular corpus; however, TPL3 also retains archaic human features such as having

168-586: Is Sivapithecus , consisting of several species from 12.5 million to 8.5 million years ago. It differs from orangutans in dentition and postcranial morphology. In the following cladogram, the approximate time the clades radiated newer clades is indicated in millions of years ago (Mya). Hylobatidae (gibbons) Ponginae (orangutans) Gorillini (gorillas) Panina (chimpanzees) Ardipithecus (†) Praeanthropus (†) Australopithecus/ Paranthropus robustus (†2) Australopithecus garhi (†2.5) Homo (humans) Both Sahelanthropus and Orrorin existed during

192-773: Is a building located in Vientiane , the capital of Laos. The structure was originally built in 1925 as the French governor 's residence and today presents the history of the nation, highlighting the Lao people's struggle to free the country from foreign occupation. It is located on Samsenthai road, opposite the cultural hall. In 2007, the United States donated a grant to help develop the building. 17°58′1″N 102°36′26″E  /  17.96694°N 102.60722°E  / 17.96694; 102.60722 This article related to

216-506: Is included in the subtribe Hominina (see below ). The alternative convention uses "hominin" to exclude members of Panina: for Homo; or for human and australopithecine species. This alternative convention is referenced in e.g. Coyne (2009) and in Dunbar (2014). Potts (2010) in addition uses the name Hominini in a different sense, as excluding Pan , and uses "hominins" for this, while a separate tribe (rather than subtribe) for chimpanzees

240-463: Is introduced, under the name Panini. In this recent convention, contra Arambourg, the term "hominin" is applied to Homo , Australopithecus , Ardipithecus , and others that arose after the split from the line that led to chimpanzees (see cladogram below); that is, they distinguish fossil members on the human side of the split, as "hominins", from those on the chimpanzee side, as "not hominins" (or "non-hominin hominids "). This cladogram shows

264-507: The clade of superfamily Hominoidea and its descendant clades, focused on the division of Hominini (omitting detail on clades not ancestral to Hominini). The family Hominidae ("hominids") comprises the tribes Ponginae (including orangutans ), Gorillini (including gorillas ) and Hominini, the latter two forming the subfamily of Homininae. Hominini is divided into Panina ( chimpanzees ) and Australopithecina (australopithecines). The Hominina ( humans ) are usually held to have emerged within

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288-692: The Australopithecina (which would roughly correspond to the alternative definition of Hominini according to the alternative definition which excludes Pan ). Genetic analysis combined with fossil evidence indicates that hominoids diverged from the Old World monkeys about 25 million years ago (Mya), near the Oligocene-Miocene boundary. The most recent common ancestors (MRCA) of the subfamilies Homininae and Ponginae lived about 15 million years ago. The best-known fossil genus of Ponginae

312-408: The X chromosome in the ancestral populations prior to the chimpanzee–human last common ancestor (CHLCA). Most DNA studies find that humans and Pan are 99% identical, but one study found only 94% commonality, with some of the difference occurring in non-coding DNA . It is most likely that the australopithecines, dating from 4.4 to 3 Mya, evolved into the earliest members of genus Homo . In

336-435: The adjectival term "hominin" (or nominalized "hominins") refers to the tribe Hominini, whereas the members of the subtribe Hominina (and thus all archaic human species) are referred to as "homininan" ("homininans"). This follows the proposal by Mann and Weiss (1996), which presents tribe Hominini as including both Pan and Homo , placed in separate subtribes. The genus Pan is referred to subtribe Panina , and genus Homo

360-480: The cave's main gallery, at the base of the sloped entrance, were conducted by a team of American, French and Laotian researchers starting in 2009. The first fossil find, a hominin skull dubbed TPL1 , was recovered at a depth of 2.35 m (7 ft 9 in) in December 2009. A mandible, TPL2 , was found the following year at a depth of 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in). Radiocarbon and luminescence dating of

384-419: The earliest skeletal evidence for the presence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia . The TPL2 mandible was found lower down in the same stratigraphic unit as TPL1 , and represents a mature adult that combines archaic human features such as a robust mandibular corpus and small overall size, with modern human traits like a developed chin . In 2013, researchers recovered the partial mandible of

408-465: The estimated duration of the ancestral chimpanzee–human speciation events, within the range of eight to four million years ago (Mya). Very few fossil specimens have been found that can be considered directly ancestral to genus Pan . News of the first fossil chimpanzee, found in Kenya, was published in 2005. However, it is dated to very recent times—between 545 and 284 thousand years ago. The divergence of

432-466: The fully modern TPL1 specimen was therefore considered a major discovery because it filled in a 60,000-year gap in the fossil record, demonstrating the presence of modern humans in Southeast Asia from at least 60,000 BP. Additionally, as Tam Pa Ling lies a thousand miles inland, the finds challenged previous assumptions that humans migrated out of Africa by following coastlines. They suggest that

456-509: The migration may also have proceeded along river valleys, which served as natural corridors through the continent. The fossils were temporarily removed to the United States for study by paleoanthropologist Laura Shackleford, Fabrice Demeter and the team. In April 2016 they were returned to Laos, and are now housed in a new building of the Lao National Museum in Vientiane . Hominini The Hominini (hominins) form

480-757: The only extant species in the Australopithecine branch (subtribe), which also contains many extinct close relatives of humans. Concerning membership, when Hominini is taken to exclude Pan , Panini ("panins") may refer to the tribe containing Pan as its only genus. Or perhaps place Pan with other dryopithecine genera, making the whole tribe or subtribe of Panini or Panina together. Minority dissenting nomenclatures include Gorilla in Hominini and Pan in Homo (Goodman et al. 1998), or both Pan and Gorilla in Homo (Watson et al. 2001). By convention,

504-400: The orangutan. The orangutans were reassigned to the family Hominidae ( great apes ), which already included humans; and the gorillas were grouped as a separate tribe (Gorillini) of the subfamily Homininae. Still, details of this reassignment remain contested, and of publishing since (on tribe Hominini), not every source excludes gorillas and not every source includes chimpanzees. Humans are

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528-421: The period 6.3 to 5.4 Mya, according to Patterson et al. (2006), This research group noted that one hypothetical late hybridization period was based in particular on the similarity of X chromosomes in the proto-humans and stem chimpanzees, suggesting that the final divergence was even as recent as 4 Mya. Wakeley (2008) rejected these hypotheses; he suggested alternative explanations, including selection pressure on

552-463: The sediments established a minimum age of 51,000 to 46,000 years, and direct uranium-thorium dating of the fossils indicated a maximum age of 63,000 years. TPL1 includes the frontal , partial occipital , right parietal , and temporal bone , as well as the right and left maxillae and a largely complete dentition . It was identified as belonging to an anatomically modern human with distinct Sub-Saharan African features. As of 2017, it provides

576-726: The year 2000, the discovery of Orrorin tugenensis , dated as early as 6.2 Mya, briefly challenged critical elements of that hypothesis, as it suggested that Homo did not in fact derive from australopithecine ancestors. All the listed fossil genera are evaluated for two traits that could identify them as hominins: Some, including Paranthropus , Ardipithecus , and Australopithecus , are broadly thought to be ancestral and closely related to Homo ; others, especially earlier genera, including Sahelanthropus (and perhaps Orrorin ), are supported by one community of scientists but doubted by another. Extant species are in bold. Lao National Museum The Lao National Museum

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