Java Man

The first known fossil of Homo erectus, found in Java in 1891 by the Dutch anatomist Eugène Dubois (1858–1940). It was long known by the name he gave it: Pithecanthropus erectus. Subsequent discoveries (1920s to the present) show specimens to date from ?0·8–0·3 million years ago, with evidence of long-term trends for increased brain size and tooth reduction. Java was probably first colonized by H. erectus during a glacial period (c.0·9 mya) when low sea level exposed the Sunda shelf, joining Java with mainland Asia. Thereafter it was periodically isolated again during subsequent glacials (low sea levels).

It was originally given the scientific name Pithecanthropus erectus by its discoverer Eugène Dubois, who found the remains at the site of Trinil in 1891. Despite this, the Java Man is still found in many textbooks today. A second Java Man was later discovered in the village of Sangiran, Central Java, 18km to the north of Solo. His remains, a skullcap of similar size to that found by Dubois, was discovered by Berlin-born paleontologist GHR von Koenigswald in 1936, as a direct result of excavations by Dubois 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, and the first cited as support for Charles Darwin's and Alfred Russel Wallace's theory of evolution. Many scientists of the day even suggested that Dubois' Java Man might have been the so-called "missing link", the creature that is supposed to provide the evolutionary connection between the apes and modern man.

Brazilian cartoonist Maurício de Sousa, inspired by the Java Man's scientific name, created a caveman called Pitheco, whose full name is Pithecanthropus erectus da Silva (Silva is the most common Brazilian surname).