摘要: Description　　The Pondaung Formation is a geologic formation which consists of layers of red beds alternating with grey sandstones sediments, dated to about 40 million years ago. Several of these outcr

Description

　　The Pondaung Formation is a geologic formation which consists of layers of red beds alternating with grey sandstones sediments, dated to about 40 million years ago. Several of these outcrops around Bahin village, located in the Dry Zone of central Myanmar, contain fossils of the oldest representatives of anthropoid primates, which correspond to the class that includes monkeys, apes and humans. Therefore, mankind’s earliest primate ancestors are documented from these Paleontological sites which are unique in Asia, and believed to be the oldest in the world.  The significance of these sites lies in the fact that for many years it was generally considered by the scientific community that anthropoid primates originated in Africa. But more than thirty years of international research has suggested that the earliest anthropoids arose in South East Asia and subsequently dispersed to Africa at about 40 million years ago during the Middle Eocene. The fossil specimens from the Pondaung Formation contain the oldest knowns anthropoids yet discovered anywhere in the world. These fossil sites have delivered 6 distinct forms of these earliest anthropoids, distributed in two families, the Eosimiidae and the Amphipithecidae. Bahiniapondaungensis, a member of the family Eosimiidae, is the most primitive known anthropoid primate, universally considered as the ancestor of modern anthropoids.

　　These important fossils have been discovered in several outcrops clustered around Bahin Village, Myaing Township, Magway Region about 80 km from northwest of Bagan. Nearly 100 incomplete primate fossil specimens and thousands of associated mammal and other vertebrate fossils have been collected from these outcrops, and stored in the National Museum of Naypyitaw, in Yangon at the Department of Archaeology, and in the National Museums in Yangon and Mandalay. Although these fossil sites are officially-gazetted protected sites designated by the Department of Archaeology and National Museums, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, and clearly identified as protected site by on-site notification boards, these outcrops are presently under huge pressure due to the intensive economic development of agriculture in the surrounding area, which has dramatically increased exposure, erosion, and weathering of the fossil deposits. Fossiliferous outcrops are trampled by goats and cattle, and are also progressively incorporated into cultivated fields by farmers unaware and ignorant of their scientific value.