Funding from the National Science Foundation will support the development of a new, cooperative research program in paleoanthropology between scholars at Kent State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Geological Museum & Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam (DGMV). Little paleontological research has been carried out in Vietnam; hence, the natural history of Southeast Asian primates is essentially unknown despite the fact that modern members of this group exhibit the greatest diversity of modern primates for any geographic area. In this exploratory project the researchers will survey areas that have been mapped as sedimentary deposits dating to the Cenozoic (the last 65 million years) for fossil primates. This is a high-risk endeavor for at least two reasons. First, while the vast majority of primate fossils come from Cenozoic sedimentary deposits, many sedimentary deposits do not yield vertebrate fossils. Second, much of the geological mapping in Vietnam is preliminary in nature. This high-risk research is, however, because it has recently been argued that the earliest known anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and people) lived in Asia, not Africa; and that the initial adaptive radiation of apes occurred in Asia, not Africa. New fossil primates from Vietnam would bear on these ongoing discussions. The co-principal investigators of this project have recently developed a strong research relationship with scientists working for the Geologic Museum of Hanoi and have initiated a survey for fossil mammals in Vietnam. During 2001 they hope to significantly expand this collaboration by extending this study of the geology of Vietnam and by surveying additional areas for fossils. Because fossil primates predating about 100,000 years are unknown from Vietnam any primate fossils yielded by this research have the potential to expand significantly upon the understanding of primate paleobiogeography, Asian natural history, and ultimately, human evolution.
