World famous Myanmar primates from Bahin area
Mann Thit Nyein (Archaeology)
It
has been 10 years since I start participating in Myanmar-France field survey on
primate fossil in 2008. In the first year our trip to Bahin Village in Myaing
Township via Pyay and Pakokku was a very difficult one. Road transport was very
bad. As some rains had fallen I vividly remember reciting all the religious
verses I knew as we made the journey arduously.
Bahin Village in Magway Region, Pakokku
District, Myaing Township had now become a major village tract and the 27 miles
journey from Pakokku to Myaing and 16 miles trip from Myaing to Bahin Village
can be made on decent modern buses that ply daily to and fro. Bahin Village
Tract consist of Htanaunggon, Oo Nap Yin
, Shan Tone, Magyikan, Nandawya, Spaykan and Paukkhaung villages and
Bahin Village itself had close to 500 households. The village tract with Bahin
village and seven other villages had more than 2,000 households in total.
There’s
one sub-high school in Bahin village in addition to one station hospital where
treatments were provided full time. The major economic activity was agriculture
and trade. The village market was full of buyers and sellers from Pakokku,
Myaing and Monywa as well as nearby villages and in addition to having a good
living standard it also had a police station that contributes toward security
and rule of law.
Bahin
Village also had the historical Shwe Hintha Pagoda and when the annual pagoda
festival was held on the Full Moon Day of Tabaung, it attracts merchants from
Pakkoku, Myaing and Monywa and devotees and revellers from nearby villages. In
addition to all of these, Bahin Village and its vicinity became a world famous
place in archaeology after discovery of more than 40 million years old fossil
remains of primates. The latest addition to this village now will be a museum
displaying the fossil remains discovered in the area. The museum was
constructed by Department of Archaeology and National Museum.
Primates
are any mammal of the group that includes the lemurs, lorises, tarsiers,
monkeys, apes and humans. Humans and primates had similar evolutionary process.
Primates were descendent of tree dwellers. The original habitats of primates
are important in the study of its evolutionary process. Primate fossils from
Eocene period (55 million to 38 million years ago) were found but most were
found from the Oligocene period that starts about 38 million years ago.
Primate
fossils such as Amphipithecus and Pondaungia from about 40 million years ago
found in Myanmar was the oldest discovered in the world. Looking back, in 1914
palaeontologist G.D.P. Cotter found the first primate fossil of Myanmar in
Pangan, Myaing Township. In honour of the founder, it was named Pondaungia
Cotteri. In 1923 Dr. Barnum Brown found another primate fossil near Mogaung
village, Pale Township which was named Amphipithecus mogaungensis in honour of
the place where it was discovered. In April 1978 Mandalay University Geology
Department Lecturer U Ba Maw led 13 students on a field survey in Sagaing
Region, Pale Township, Mogaung Village and found two primate teeth fossil
remains. The tooth fossil remains were Amphipithecus and Pondaungia discovered
by Myanmar experts for the first time. In October 1978 Mandalay University
Geology Department Lecturer U Thaw Tint together with demonstrators conducted a
field survey near Moguang Village and found more primate teeth fossil remains.
On 14
February 1997 State Peace and Development Council Secretary 1 Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
directed Tatmadaw Office of Strategic Studies and expert geologists from
Ministry of Education to jointly explore and search for fossilized remains in
Pondaung and formed a Fossil Exploration Team led by Col. Than Tun which conducted
exploration works in Pale Township and Myaing Township.
Upon
invitation international fossilogists also cooperated and participated in the
exploration works. Now, 21 years has passed since Japan and French fossilogists
has worked together with Myanmar experts and throughout this period more
primate fossil remains were found.
Bahinia
Pondaungisis found in the area was considered and widely accepted as the oldest
primate fossil found in the world. Ganlea megacanina, a primate lower jaw
fossil remain found in November 2008 at Myaing Township Pauk Khaung Village was
about 38 million years old.
According
to Dr. Chris Beard, palaeontologist at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural
History, discovery of Ganlea megacanina primate put up a new thought to the
previously accepted concept of primates originating from Africa. This discovery
was also important in the study of the evolution of Myanmar primates.
The six Myanmar primates fossils
Pondaungia, Amphipitehcus, Bahinia, Ganlea, Colonbine and Myanmarpithecus found
in Pondaung area were of mid or late Eocene period. The search for primate
fossil has been conducted since 1997 and new discovery will become rare and
more difficult. As there can be instances of smuggling abroad fossilized
remains it should be noted that this amount to destruction and removing our
cultural and historical heritages. Now, 25 areas near the vicinity of Magway
Region, Pakokku District, Myaing Township, Bahin Village where primate fossil
remains were discovered were designated as protected zones. As such locals and
the people of the county should come together to protect and maintain this
Bahin area as an important cultural and historical heritage area.
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Review of the investigation of
primate fossils in Myanmar- ZIN-MAUNG-MAUNG-THEIN1*,
THAUNG-HTIKE2, AUNG NAING SOE3, CHIT SEIN4,MAUNG-MAUNG5 & MASANARU TAKAI6
