Bones of Massive Primate : U.S. Team Confirms Vietnam Find

The first Western anthropologists to visit North Vietnam since before the war have confirmed Vietnamese reports that prehistoric humans may have lived in Southeast Asia side by side with a massive primate known as Gigantopithecus.

John W. Olsen and Russell L. Ciochon, both of the University of Arizona, also confirmed that Vietnamese archeologists have located major new fossil deposits that may contain the first skull or other bones from the extinct ape. So far, the identification of Gigantopithecus has been based upon the discovery in India and China of more than 1,000 teeth and three jawbones.

Based upon that evidence, scientists have calculated that the docile, plant-eating ape stood as much as nine feet tall and weighed more than 600 pounds. Some anthropologists speculate that early man, called Homo erectus, may have hunted Gigantopithecus into extinction about 100,000 years ago.

Return Trip Planned

The Arizona researchers said in an interview here this week that they plan to return to Vietnam in December to help excavate the sites. “I think it’s just a matter of time until we find a complete skull (of Gigantopithecus ),” Ciochon said.

He and Olsen spent the first 16 days of January in Vietnam, at the invitation of the Institute of Archeology in Hanoi. They sought the invitation after hearing reports of the discovery of Gigantopithecus teeth intermingled with teeth of Homo erectus.

The teeth were found in one of the hundreds of limestone caves that are scattered throughout northern Vietnam, Olsen said. The Vietnamese have excavated only about 3% of that cave, he said, and already they have found fossilized bones of an extinct horse, an extinct rhinoceros, a giant panda, a giant orangutan and a gibbon, as well as the teeth.

“The degree of preservation of the fossils was very surprising,” Ciochon said. Particularly important, he said, was the presence of the gibbon skull, which is probably the oldest ever found. “If that fragile skull was preserved intact, then it’s likely that the much hardier, more robust Gigantopithecus skull would also be preserved.”

Visited Cave Sites

In addition to examining the fossils, Olsen and Ciochon visited several cave sites. A planned excursion to the border province of Lang Son had to be canceled, however, when Chinese troops seized an 18-mile section of the border the day before their outing.

Olsen and Ciochon gave their counterparts high marks for excavational skills and knowledge of anthropological theory. They were less enthused, however, about the methods the Vietnamese used.

“Because of their lack of tools, the Vietnamese had to blast loose chunks of the (cave) with dynamite,” Ciochon said. “That’s not the best way to excavate fossils.”

When the Americans return to Vietnam, they plan to take along pneumatic drills to chisel out the fossils. “They haven’t been able to dig very far into the caves because they don’t have lights, so we’ll take along lights and a generator,” Ciochon said.

They will also take along climbing gear to reach the oldest caves, which are high up the sheer faces of rock outcroppings.

Their trip was sponsored by the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation of Pasadena, which will probably fund the next trip. Such private funding is mandatory, Ciochon said, because of a U.S. embargo on the use of government funds to travel to or aid Vietnam.