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Chew on this: Fossil teeth of Stegodon Orientalis, found at the Ma Tuyen Cave in the northwestern province of Lao Cai. — File Photo |
LAO CAI — More than 500 animal fossils have been discovered in a cave in the northwestern province of Lao Cai, according to the Viet Nam Archaeology Institute.
Archaeologists were working for nearly a month at Ma Tuyen Cave, in Muong Khuong District.
The fossils are believed to belong to 12 animal species, including bear, rhino, elephant, porcupine, deer, pig, horse, dog, monkey and mouse, scientifically named Stegodon orientalis Owen, Elephas indicus, Palaeoloxodon naumanni, Ailuropoda mela-noleuca, Rhinoceros, Servus and Sus scrofa.
More than half of the items were discovered by chance by workers from a local construction firm while renovating the cave in 2009.
"As many as 70 per cent of the finds are teeth from bears and rhinos, and deer and stag metatarsal bones," Nguyen Lan Cuong, deputy general secretary of Viet Nam Archaeologists' Association, told Viet Nam News.
"At the site, we have also found the teeth of Palaeoloxodon naumanni, and wild pig teeth, as well as leg bones of other animals."
Cuong said the fossils dated from the late Pleistocene, some 50,000 to 70,000 years ago.
"This discovery is extremely significant," he said. "This is the first time we have discovered animal fossils in Lao Cai. We have found fossils of animals in another nine provinces. Teeth from Palaeoloxodon naumanni are very rare because this elephant species became extinct 10,000 years ago".
Nguyen Kim Thuy, head of the excavation team, said the cave, which is 796m above sea level, was 90m in length and 17m at its widest. — VNS