AP-Primate Remains Found in Old Roc

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Subject: AP-Primate Remains Found in Old Rock

Saturday November 28 9:19 AM ET

Primate Remains Found in Old Rock

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Fossilized primate remains have been found in a
40-million-year-old rock, a discovery that could lead to a better
understanding of
when man first appeared in Asia, members of a Myanmar-Japanese team said
Saturday.

The remains of the primates, with an upper jaw and teeth still intact, were
found earlier this month in the Pondaung region of northwestern Myanmar,
also known as Burma.

Col. Than Tun, leader of the Myanmar team, told reporters the remains were a
``vital find,'' complimenting the discovery at Pondaung last year of the
left and right lower jaws of an amphipithecus primate.

The latest finds were of pondaungia and amphipithecus primates, he said.

Until the Pondaung findings, it was believed that primates from which man
evolved first appeared in Southeast Asia at a later date.

Scholars from the United States and France have also conducted surveys in
the Pondaung region.