86,000-year-old human bone found in Laos cave

 News emerged in mid June 2023 about 86,000-year-old human bone found in Laos cave. The cave is Tam Pà Ling, or Cave of the Monkeys, located about 3,840 feet (1,170 m) above sea level at the top of Pa Ling mountain in northeastern Laos. See Wikipedia on Tam Pa Ling. 

Hominin fossils have been found by researchers since 2009 and there were more significant finds in 2013. Dating the bones  indicated a maximum age of 63,000 years, this would be the earliest skeletal evidence for the presence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia.

The articles released in June 2023 reports fragments of a human shin bone and skull have been dated at 86,000 years. This pushes back the earliest known date of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia. The study was reported in Nature Communications on June 13 "Early presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia by 86–68 kyr at Tam Pà Ling, Northern Laos". 

See also an article in Live Science and another in New Scientist.

Batu Caves now part of a new Geopark

 In March 2023 it was announced that the new Gombak-Hulu Langat Geopark had been established. This is in Selangor, Malaysia. The Geopark includes Batu Caves and Damai park, as well as Bukit Takun, and the Klang Gates quartz ridge.

The Gombak-Hulu Langat Geopark (GHL) was certified as a national geopark on 13 March. 

See article in The Star 23 April "Malaysia's new geopark is a geological wonder that's just an hour from KL". 

It is the 7th national geopark. Others with karst area are Langkawi, Kinta Valley and Lenggong.

Tourist dies at Tiger Cave viewpoint, Krabi. Thailand

 In March 2023 an Australian tourist died at the viewpoint above Tiger Cave near Krabi. Thailand. 

Tiger Cave temple or Wat Tham Suea is a popular tourist attraction, just outside the town of Krabi. The cave is at ground level. It is a Buddhist meditation centre. There are other caves in the area.

Another attraction is climbing the stairs to the viewpoint at the top of the hill. When I was there in 1995, there were 1237 steps up a single stairway. But the stairs have been rebuilt and now there are 1260 steps to the top. At the top is a large golden statue of Buddha and Buddha's footprint.

The Australian man died at the top of the viewpoint.

The view in 1995 ! :

There are lots of macaques around the area

Signboard in the valley showing some of the other caves. The forested circular valley is a wang, with a sacred tree in the centre and the caves are around the cliff walls. 

The caves are : Miusua Cave, Loogtan Cave, Loop Cave, Pla Lai Cave, Lublare Cave, Chang Kheaw Cave, Snake Cave, Jaed Chan Cave, Theawada Cave.

See accident report in TheThaiger , and on MSN news.

See more on Tiger Cave in Wikipedia.

Caribbean Union Island gecko

 Not related to southeast Asia, but interesting as it is about protecting an endangered gecko, and of course there are many endemic and some endangered geckos in Asian caves. 

BBC news on 26 Dec 2022 featured a tiny gecko that lives in just one part of an eastern Caribbean island. This is Union Island, part of the nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 

"Army of islanders to protect gecko the size of a paperclip". The article says how the Union islanders are

"on a mission to protect one of the world's tiniest species - one so rare it exists in just 50 hectares (123 acres) in a remote corner of one of the smallest islands in the Caribbean.

The Union Island gecko is the size of a paperclip, critically endangered and facing an insidious enemy - poachers.

Following its official discovery in 2005, the unique creature quickly became a coveted curio by collectors enthralled by its gem-like markings, earning it the dubious distinction of the most trafficked reptile in the Eastern Caribbean."

Since 2017 the islanders have trained as wardens and now patrol the dense forests to look for intruders. As a result the gecko population has soared " from 10,000 in 2018 to around 18,000 now - outnumbering the island's human population six-fold".

International conservationists are involved including Fauna and Flora International (FFI). The gecko has been protected by international treaty CITES since 2019.

The gecko is very pretty and changes colour when brought into the light from dark brown to multi-coloured. Photo by FFI/J BOCK from BBC :

See more on the Union Island gecko.

The gecko has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. 

Stone Age limb amputation from Kalimantan cave

  On 7 Sept 2022 news in the media about a Stone Age limb amputation from a cave in Kalimantan, Borneo.

Sky News "Stone Age human skeleton in Borneo provides evidence of earliest known surgical limb amputation"

The article says this is the earliest known limb amputation found on a human skeleton. The foot was found to have been surgically removed when the patient was a child. The patient was known to be alive at the time and recovered.  This happened about 31,000 years ago. The skeleton is of a young person. It was found in Liang Tebo cave in East Kalimantan. This area also has some of the world's oldest known rock art.

The people at that time would have been foragers. It looks like they had medical knowledge including how to prevent infections. The surgeon had knowledge of anatomy and was able to prevent blood loss and serious infection. The wound healed and the child is thought to have lived another 6 to 9 years before dying and being buried in the cave. 

Until now, the oldest known complex operation was carried out on a Neolithic farmer from France about 7,000 years ago. His left forearm was surgically removed and then partially healed.

The research article was published in Nature on 7 Sept, "Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo"

And a BBC report "Earliest evidence of amputation found in Indonesia cave".

Human jaw bone found in Maros cave, Sulawesi

The rock art in the caves in Maros, south Sulawesi, have been widely documented over the years. Now we have news that a Pleistocene human jawbone has been found in Leang Bulu Bettue cave. This is the first indication of humans during that time period. The jawbone, complete with teeth, has been dated to between 25,000 and 16,000 years old. The Australian archaeologists haven't been able to determine the sex or age of the person. The results were published in PLoS One, Sept 29 2021

Additional news about another find - 

In August a different team announced the recovery of genetic material from a 7,000-year-old skeleton from Leang Panninge in Maros. The skeleton was found in 2015 and was the first relatively complete human burial from the "Toalean" society. It was deduced the skeleton was a 17–18-year-old female with a broadly Australo-Melanesian affinity. She was buried in a flexed position, probably 7300-7200 years BP . The extracted DNA shows the remains belonged to a woman who was 18 years old when she died during the Holocene. Article published in Nature, 25 August 2021.

So the jawbone is a lot older than the 7000 year old skeleton. Researchers will continue digging to try and find more bones. The new find pushes back Homo sapiens’ existence on Sulawesi by thousands of years. 

 

Cave swiftlets found dead in Phattalung caves

 An article in The Thaiger 22 Sept 2021 "5 billion baht loss as birds’ nest producing swiftlets found dead".

Apparently over 1 million birds have been found dead, in 107 caves in Phattalung's 7 islands.

The article says :

"Phatthalung authorities have requested help from the Department of Special Investigation to investigate the death of birds. These were no ordinary birds though; they were swiftlets, the birds that produce the saliva that make birds’ nest, prized as a health delicacy. And it wasn’t a few birds, it was over a million birds found dead in caves where Siamnest company has the authority to collect their birds’ nest.

And the financial loss of these birds and the birds’ nests they produce has been estimated at about 5 billion baht.

The company has permission to access 107 caves in Phatthalung’s seven islands and they sent their collection teams to gather the birds’ nest between September 9 to September 17. When they arrived to the last cave, they discovered the remains of more than 1 million birds instead of the nests they were tasked with collecting.

The team found the remains of a fire and various trash strewn about including shoes and plastic bottles. After Siamnest involved the Phatthalung authorities, the Royal Thai Police joined the investigation of the mass death of the swiftlet birds.

Unlike most birds that make nests out of twigs or similar materials, swiftlets make theirs completely out of their unique saliva which solidifies to form the nest. These saliva nests are considered a delicacy, especially in Asian regions, for it’s believed healing powers. Birds’ nest soup is often made by steaming and soaking the saliva nests.

The nests are said to help with kidney health, phlegm reduction and are desired as an aphrodisiac as well. Harvesting companies have become big businesses due to the high price the unique birds’ nest can fetch, with companies like Siamnest getting exclusive access to areas the swiftlets nest or even creating artificial sanctuaries for swiftlets to nest.

Of note, disgraced police officer Pol Col Thitisan “Jo Ferrari” Utthanaphon, whose shocking wealth was revealed upon his arrest for suffocating a suspect in custody, was said to have made part of his fortune by trading birds’ nest.

___

The source of the above Thaiger article is The Nation , which has lots of photos:

Horrifying Phatthalung bird massacre costs Siamnest THB5-bn in lost revenue

A Royal Thai Police (RTP) team visited Phatthalung province on Monday to investigate the case of missing birds’ nests and the mass killing of swiftlets.

Siamnest company, which has the concession for collecting bird’s nests from the 107 caves in Phatthalung’s seven islands, sent its teams off to collect nests from September 9 to 17.

However, when the collectors arrived at the last cave, they found no nests but instead, the carcasses of more than a million birds, the remains of a fire and trash including plastic bottles and shoes.

The damage from this bird massacre has been estimated at about 5 billion baht.

Phatthalung authorities, meanwhile, have contacted the Department of Special Investigation to see if they will consider taking on the case.

__

I've been to several caves in Phattalung province mainland, but not islands -  see labels on the right.