Dating, stratigraphy and taphonomy of the Pleistocene site of Ban Fa Suai II (Northern Thailand): Contributions to the study of paleobiodiversity in Southeast Asia

Since the initial description of the complex Ailuropoda-Stegodon as a faunal association with biochronological significance for the Southeast Asian area, few sites have provided paleontological data allowing for an extensive documentation of past fauna. Biodiversity and paleo-environmental reconstructions of Pleistocene fauna are still generally based on bone assemblages whose taphonomy and dating are not or badly documented. However, in order to be useful in a paleo-eclogical perspective, the dating of collected assemblages should be associated with periods of times corresponding to climatic episodes. In this study, we provide a detailed stratigraphic, taphonomical, paleontological and ESR dating studies concerning the site of Ban Fa Suai II discovered near the cave of the Monk in northern Thailand. Our results demonstrate the changes in the taxonomic composition of the fauna over time and argue against the use of the currently available regional dataset for paleo-ecological reonstructions.