Lang Rongrien
| Lang Rongrien
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Location: | Southern Thailand , Krabi Province | |
|
Geographic location: |
8 ° 10 '47.3 " N , 98 ° 52' 49.6" E | |
|
||
| Cadastral number: | KR0078 | |
| Geology: | limestone | |
| Discovery: | 1982 | |
| Particularities: | archaeological site | |
The cave long Rongrien ( province of Krabi ) is a cave and important archaeological site in southern Thailand .
The cave was discovered in 1982 and explored a year later by Douglas Anderson ( University of Pennsylvania ). The Lang Rongrien site is so far the only place in Thailand that gives an insight into the people ( Homo erectus ) and their environmental conditions around 30,000 years before our time.
The cave is located in a breathtaking landscape north of the provincial capital Krabi with numerous rugged rocks and many other caves, rock roofs (abris) - mostly overgrown by the dense vegetation. The site long Rongrien located on the east side of a hill on the road in 1016, about 15 km (linear) north-northwest of the provincial capital Krapi.
At that time the place was even closer to the coast (higher sea level) and offered the people who lived here protection for a long period of time. Anderson found various charcoal remains that are between 38,000 and 27,000 years old. However, this does not mean that the grotto was inhabited for the entire period.
In the south of Thailand there is far more rainfall than in the dry northeast, and even today the lush rainforests bear witness to the former abundance of flora and fauna in this area. This undoubtedly attracted hunters and gatherers who found shelter in the grotto for a while and then moved on. Three waves of immigration and emigration can be observed over the entire period in which significant changes in the environment have taken place.
- First settlement phase (at least 38,000 years ago): two hearths, broken and charred animal bones and scaly tools date back to the earliest times
- Second settlement phase (a thousand years later): several hearths with surrounding bones and stone tools
- Third phase of settlement (around 27,000 years ago): seven hearths, two of which are lined with stones and surrounded by bones and tools, as if prehistoric hunters were drawn to the warmth of the fire; maybe the smoke from the fire also helped against the mosquitoes.
Around 10,000 years ago, Lang Rongrien was near the coast, and a change in the tools used was actually noted for this time. While they were previously rather robust tools, later leaves were made from pebbles. This development may be related to climate change, as the cooler and drier climate was followed by a hot, humid climate, which most likely led to the renewal of rainforests .
literature
- Douglas D. Anderson: Lang Rongrien rockshelter: a Pleistocene, early Holocene archaeological site from Krabi, Southwestern Thailand . (University Museum Monograph; 71). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology 1990. ISBN 978-0-924171-02-4 .
- Julie Sloan Denslow and Christine Padoch: People of the tropical rain forest . University of California Press 1988. ISBN 0520063511 .
Web links
- Thailand Caves (→ Krabi) database entry (KMZ file) KR0078 - Tham Lang Rongrian - the marker points to the exact point.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anderson (1990)
- ↑ Denslow and Padoch (1988), p. 65 ( text excerpt as digitized version )