Holocene development and human use of mangroves and limestone forest at an ancient hong lagoon in the Tràng An karst, Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Mid-Holocene coastline reconstruction from geomorphological sea level indicators in the Tràng An World Heritage Site, Northern Vietnam

Studies of archaeological and palaeontological bone assemblages increasingly show that the historical distributions of many mammal species are unrepresentative of their longer-term geographical ran...

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.210529

Confirmed archaeological evidence of water deer in Vietnam: relics of the Pleistocene or a shifting baseline?

Description of new Pliocene to Early Pleistocene deer (Cervidae, Mammalia) remains from the Siwalik Hills in Pakistan with a discussion on paleobiogeography of cervids from the Indian subcontinent

Raw material analyses of prehistoric stone tool assemblages can reveal insight into mobility and exchange patterns in hunter-gatherer populations by reconstructing the circulation of stone throughout ancient landscapes. In Pleistocene Southeast Asia, stone tools are generally thought to have been fashioned from easily accessible local raw materials. However, despite the consistent presence of stone tools made of igneous raw material at prehistoric sites throughout the Tràng An Landscape Complex in northern Vietnam, there are no sources of igneous raw material in the immediate vicinity. This paper presents the results of geochemical sourcing analysis of late Pleistocene igneous stone tools from Tràng An: the first analysis of its type in mainland Southeast Asia. The results shed light on mobility and raw material provisioning strategies in Pleistocene mainland Southeast Asian hunter-gatherer populations and raise questions surrounding the relationship between technological organization, raw material, and expediency in Southeast Asian stone tool assemblages.

/pdf/geochemical-fingerprinting-of-pleistocene-stone-tools-from-26n441cv.pdf

Geochemical fingerprinting of Pleistocene stone tools from the Tràng An Landscape Complex, Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam

Described at the end of the twentieth century, the large-antlered or giant muntjac, Muntiacus gigas (syn. vuquangensis), is a Critically Endangered species currently restricted to the Annamite region in Southeast Asia. Here we report subfossil evidence of giant muntjac, a mandible fragment dated between 11.1 and 11.4 thousand years before present, from northern Vietnam. We describe morphological and metric criteria for diagnosis and consider the specimen in the context of regional archaeological and palaeontological records of Muntiacus. We then consider the palaeoenvironmental context of the specimen and the implications for habitat requirements for extant populations. The new specimen extends the known spatial and temporal range of giant muntjacs in Vietnam and is further evidence that this species was more widely distributed in the Holocene than current records indicate. While regional proxy evidence indicates a drier climate and more open woodland habitats at the onset of the Holocene, contextual evidence indicates that the specimen derived from an animal inhabiting limestone karst forest. This record also supports the assertion that remnant populations are in a refugial state, as a result of anthropogenic pressures, rather than representing a centre of endemism. These facts underscore the urgent need for the conservation of remaining populations.

/pdf/an-11-000-year-old-giant-muntjac-subfossil-from-northern-36hlfv4qyb.pdf

B V Manh

Papers

An 11 000-year-old giant muntjac subfossil from Northern Vietnam: implications for past and present populations.