JAVA MAN

extinct hominid known from fossil remains found in Java. The skullcap and thighbone, discovered by E. Dubois in 1891 at Trinil, by the Solo River, were the first known fossils of the species Homo erectus. Dubois, however, originally classified his find as Pithecanthropus erectus. Other fossils from Sangiran and the remains of an infant from Modjokerto (found 1936) indicate that H. erectus occupied Java during the middle Pleistocene Epoch (about 1,000,000 to 500,000 years ago). Java man was characterized by a cranial capacity averaging 900 cubic centimetres (which is lower than those of later specimens of H. erectus), a skull flat in profile with little forehead, a sagittal ridge on top of the head for attachment of powerful jaw muscles, an occipital torus, very thick skull bones, heavy browridges, a large palate, and a massive jaw with no chin. The teeth are essentially human although with some simian characters, such as large, partly overlapping canines. Thighbones show that Java man walked fully erect, like modern man, and attained a height of about 5 feet 8 inches (1.72 m). The Modjokerto infant skull (age at death about five years) already shows large browridges and a retreating forehead. Java man predates Peking man (q.v.) and is usually considered somewhat more primitive.