37,000-Year-old Skull From Borneo Reveals Surprise For Scientists

Popular Archaeology ^ | Monday, June 27, 2016 | UNSW, and PA editors

[SunkenCiv]

A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the "Deep Skull" - the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia - has revealed this ancient person was not related to Indigenous Australians, as had been originally thought.

The Deep Skull was also likely to have been an older woman, rather than a teenage boy.

The research, led by UNSW Australia Associate Professor Darren Curnoe, represents the most detailed investigation of the ancient cranium specimen since it was found in Niah Cave in Sarawak in 1958.

"Our analysis overturns long-held views about the early history of this region," says Associate Professor Curnoe, Director of the UNSW Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre (PANGEA).

"We've found that these very ancient remains most closely resemble some of the Indigenous people of Borneo today, with their delicately built features and small body size, rather than Indigenous people from Australia." ...

The Deep Skull was discovered by Tom Harrisson of the Sarawak Museum during excavations at the West Mouth of the great Niah Cave complex and was analysed by prominent British anthropologist Don Brothwell.

In 1960, Brothwell concluded the Deep Skull belonged to an adolescent male and represented a population of early modern humans closely related, or even ancestral, to Indigenous Australians, particularly Tasmanians.

"Brothwell's ideas have been highly influential and stood largely untested, so we wanted to see whether they might be correct after almost six decades," says Curnoe.

"Our study challenges many of these old ideas. It shows the Deep Skull is from a middle-aged female rather than a teenage boy, and has few similarities to Indigenous Australians. Instead, it more closely resembles people today from more northerly parts of South-East Asia."

[SunkenCiv]

LOL

[P.O.E.]

“walk ten paces, dig down four feet. There you’ll find a big surprise!”

[martin_fierro]

	Genetic Genealogy >> PING <<
Send FReepmail if you want on/off GGP list Marty = Paternal Haplogroup O(2?)(M175) Maternal Haplogroup H
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[wildbill]

Well, at least now we know where Mungos go to die, eh?

[RipSawyer]

Well, we know that being the world’s fastest pitcher doesn’t keep you in the public eye very long.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 6/30/2016, thank you me. :^) There was one of those BBC Timestamp vid clips on the recommended YT list this morning, and I figured that, as usual, it was old material. Glad I checked. :^)

In the Niah National Park, located in Sarawak, Borneo, Prof Alice Roberts is delighted to encounter the oldest remains of our species ever found in South East Asia. But how did our ancestors survive in the challenging environment of the Bornean rainforest? This clip is from The Incredible Human Journey (2009).

'Phenomenal' 40,000-Year-Old Discovery In The Great Cave of Niah | 3:47 | BBC Timestamp | 809K subscribers | 36,270 views | March 4, 2025