
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140342
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCIENTISTS FIND FOSSILS OF PRIMATES IN QUARRY

Scientists exploring a Chinese quarry found what could be the earliest known member of the family of monkeys, apes and humans, part of a fossil trove suggesting Asia was a cradle for early primate development.

The quarry was likened to a "Garden of Eden for primates" by one expert because its fossils show a variety of early primates from about 45 million years ago.

"People tend to think of Africa as being the center of origin of this group," said Mary Dawson, co-author of a report on the findings.

The findings, she added, are "opening up the strong possibility that Asia was indeed a cradle for the development of early primates."

Primates include monkeys, apes and humans as well as other animals such as lemurs and tarsiers.

Some of the fossils found were from the early member of the monkey-ape-human family, a monkey about the size of a mouse. They included three jaw fragments with teeth, some toothless jaw fragments, about a dozen isolated teeth and parts of elbow and ankle bones, Dawson said.

The fossils are from a period long before humans evolved, and Dawson said they reveal nothing about human evolution. For example, Australopithecus afarensis, the human ancestor from Africa best known for the partial skeleton "Lucy," is known from about 40 million years later.

The discoveries are reported in the most recent issue of the journal "Nature" by Dawson and Chris Beard of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh with colleagues from Beijing.

The fossils were unearthed between 1987 and 1993 from natural crevices in a limestone quarry in the Jiangsu Province of eastern China. Dawson said the small primates may have lived in the fissures, or predators may have dropped their bones there.

The quarry is dug out of two sides of a hill that rises above nearby rice paddies. The fossils were found in three towering, nearly vertical cracks about 6 feet wide that were filled with dirt and rock, Dawson said.

She said the fossils from the mouse-sized monkey may be older than three monkey teeth found earlier in Africa. The African find had been regarded as the oldest known fossils of monkey-ape-human family.

by CNB