Illustration of Java Man skull
is the name given to fossils discovered in 1891 at
Trinil -
Ngawi Regency on the banks of the
Solo River in
East Java,
Indonesia, one of the first known specimens of
Homo erectus. Its discoverer,
Eugène Dubois, gave it the
scientific name Pithecanthropus erectus, a name derived from Greek and Latin roots meaning
upright ape-man.
History and significance
Reconstruction.
Dubois' find was not a complete specimen, but consisted of a
skullcap, a
femur, and a few
teeth. There is some dissent as to whether all these bones represent the same species. A second, more complete specimen was later discovered in the village of
Sangiran, Central Java, 18 km to the north of
Solo. This find, a skullcap of similar size to that found by Dubois, was discovered by Berlin-born paleontologist
GHR von Koenigswald in 1936. Many more finds have subsequently been made at the Sangiran site , although official reports remain critical of the site's "poor" presentation and interpretation .
Original fossils of Pithecanthropus erectus (now Homo erectus) found in Java in 1891
Until older human remains were discovered in the
Great Rift Valley in
Kenya, Dubois' and Koenigswald's discoveries were the oldest hominid remains ever found. Some scientists of the day suggested Dubois' Java Man as a potential intermediate form between modern humans and the common ancestor we share with the other
great apes. The current consensus of anthropologists is that the direct ancestors of modern humans were African populations of
Homo erectus (possibly
Homo ergaster), rather than the Asian populations exemplified by Java Man and
Peking Man.
See also
