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Wesleyan University Archaeology & Anthropology Collections Hominin Fossil Casts |
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Species Designation: Homo erectus (Pithecanthropus erectus) ID/ Nickname: Java Man Date: Homo erectus fossils have been found at several early sites in Java, with dates between 1.6 and 1.8 million years ago Catalog #: 2004-11-12 a and b Description: Reconstruction of Cranium, Mandible |
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Context of Discovery:
Discovered near Trinil in Java by Eugene Dubois in 1891.
Facts about "Java Man":
Java Man has a robust skull, with a slight projecting face and flaring cheekbones. The original find of Java Man included a flat, thick skullcap, a few teeth and a thigh bone. The brain size of the skull was about 940cc. A fairly complete cranium with a brain size of about 1000 cc was found at Sangiran, Java in 1969. This is the most complete H. erectus found from Java and it is estimated to be about 800,000 years old. Recent dating has suggested that the skull is closer to 1.7 million years old, which indicates that H. erectus could have migrated out of Africa a lot earlier than previously thought. Recent arguments that a descendent of H. erectus, H. florisiensis, survived on the Java islands long after modern humans had colonized the area have been made because some of the fossils date to only about 30000-12000 years ago. These claims are still very controversial.
Important Publications:
Brown, P., and others. 2004. "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia." Nature 431:1055-1061.
Dubois, Eugene. 1896. "On Pithecanthropus erectus, a transitional form between man and the apes." Trans. Royal Dublin Soc., ser. 2, 6: 1-18.