Reports

Program No.17-005

Functional morphological study of hominoid thoracic skeleton.

Hongo Hitomi

Period of invitation: 15th June,2005 - 15th July,2005

The analysis of animal bones from Sakai Cave in Trang Province in Southern Thailand was continued. The work started last year (November to December 2004) with the support of the HOPE Project. The animal bone remains was collected at a recent habitation site of the Mani hunter-foragers during the ethnoarchaeological campaign by the Prehistory Department of University of Tubingen in 1997. The preliminary result of the analysis showed that the Mani hunters specialize in hunting of primates, mostly langurs and gibbons as well as some macaques. Primate bones makes up about 70% of the identified animal bones. Other arboreal mammals such as flying lemurs, binturong and other viverridae species were also hunted. The traditional subsistence of the Mani, however, has recently been threatened by deforestation and by the Thai government policy of settling down the nomadic minority groups. The excavated material is important in reconstructing the traditional subsistence strategy of the Manu, because the remains are considered between 50 to 100 years old and therefore reflect their hunting behavior before the environmental change and influence from outside.

I also discussed about publication of the results with Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Uerpmann. A preliminary report will be given at the International Conference of Archaeozoology in Mexico in August 2006.

Femur of primate with cut marks

HOPE Project<>