http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/30566/oldest-primate-fossils-found

Archaeologists have confirmed fossils of the world's oldest primate, which roamed the earth about 35 million years ago, have been found in a deserted coal mine in the southern province of Krabi.

The fossils, discovered by Mineral Resources Department archaeologists 14 years ago, were named Siamopithecus eocaenus.

Confirmation of the age of the fossils was published in the scientific journal Anatomical Record in November.

Yaowalak Chaimanee, the department's senior fossil expert and a member of the archaeological team, said the discovery was the best evidence yet that primates originated in Asia and not Africa.

The oldest primate fossil found in Africa is 32 million years old, she said.

The fossils found at the old mine in Nua Khlong district include lower right molars and upper left and right molars attached to the eye bone. "These are the most perfect pieces of primate fossil we've found in the country so far," she said.

The Thai archaeologists have worked closely with experts from France and Switzerland to study the fossils and concluded the primate was around the same size as a gibbon and weighed about 7kg.

Mrs Yaowalak's team earlier found pieces of upper and lower molars and a few teeth of Siamopithecus eocaenus, also known as the Siam Ape, at the same site in 1995, but they are not as complete as the ones found in 1996.

The Siam Ape, which is of the Amphipithecidae family, was recorded in Nature magazine in 1997 as the world's newest primate species.