The Lang Trang caves are located about 100 miles southwest of Hanoi Vietnam. In January of 1989, archeologists John Olson and Russell Ciochon traveled to these caves in search of Homo erectus remains.
The caves were found to be rich with mammal fossils consisting of barking deer, musk deer, wild boar and a giant panda. In caves I, II and IV teeth of homo were discovered. The discovery of a large elephant molar dates the site to the Pleistocene era, about 480,000 years ago.
These discoveries provide a picture of what the environment was once like. The jungle landscape was lush providing for numerous large beasts many of which are now extinct in Vietnam such as the Asiatic black bear and the orangutan. The extinction of these animals may have been caused by the competition between homo and the animals for food.
REFERENCES:
Ciochan, Russell L. “Asian fossils reveal humanity's giant cousin.” http://www.meta-religion.com
“The ape that was.” http://www.uiowa.edu
Oldowan: “Expansions out of Africa.” http://www.unc.edu/courses
Written by Danielle Kromer, 2003