JAVA MAN
This “missing link” was classified as Homo erectus, the creature that supposedly gave rise to Homo sapiens (humans).
Eugene Dubois went to the former Dutch Indies as a health officer in 1887. Because he had had an interest in geology and paleontology since his youth, he immediately began searching for fossils.
First he worked on Sumatra, and then went to Java where he supervised the collection of more than twelve thousand fossils from the area around the mountain of Lawu.
The fossils varied from fish to elephants to hippopotami, but fossils of anthropoids or early humans were conspicuously absent. In 1890, the Dutch anatomist focused his attention on the banks of Solo near the village Trinil. In a bend of this river, he found eroded layers of sandstone and volcanic ash—which seemed to him the perfect place to search for fossils.
Excavators discovered a human-like fossilized tooth in September 1891. A month later, they uncovered the upper part of a skull. The bone of the skull was thick and had such a curve that its brains could be only half as big as the brain of a modern human. In the front of the skull, above the missing orbits, were clear eyebrow bags. Initially, Dubois believed that the fossils belonged to a large, extinct chimpanzee.
The team kept digging in the riverbank, however, and one year later discovered a thighbone in the same sandstone layers, about fifteen meters upstream from the spot where the tooth and the skull had been discovered.
In contrast to the ape-like skull, the thighbone looked like a modern human thighbone. It was clear that it belonged to an upright walking creature. Dubois’ first reaction was to attribute these discoveries to one individual—an upright walking specimen of an extinct species of chimpanzee.
He dubbed it Anthropopithecus erectus (i.e., the erect-walking, human-like anthropoid). Despite further excavations, the team did not discover more than one other tooth. The teeth and femur were, in fact, human. However, the skullcap eventually was shown to be from a giant gibbon (monkey).
No missing link here.
Eugene Dubois went to the former Dutch Indies as a health officer in 1887. Because he had had an interest in geology and paleontology since his youth, he immediately began searching for fossils.
First he worked on Sumatra, and then went to Java where he supervised the collection of more than twelve thousand fossils from the area around the mountain of Lawu.
The fossils varied from fish to elephants to hippopotami, but fossils of anthropoids or early humans were conspicuously absent. In 1890, the Dutch anatomist focused his attention on the banks of Solo near the village Trinil. In a bend of this river, he found eroded layers of sandstone and volcanic ash—which seemed to him the perfect place to search for fossils.
Excavators discovered a human-like fossilized tooth in September 1891. A month later, they uncovered the upper part of a skull. The bone of the skull was thick and had such a curve that its brains could be only half as big as the brain of a modern human. In the front of the skull, above the missing orbits, were clear eyebrow bags. Initially, Dubois believed that the fossils belonged to a large, extinct chimpanzee.
The team kept digging in the riverbank, however, and one year later discovered a thighbone in the same sandstone layers, about fifteen meters upstream from the spot where the tooth and the skull had been discovered.
In contrast to the ape-like skull, the thighbone looked like a modern human thighbone. It was clear that it belonged to an upright walking creature. Dubois’ first reaction was to attribute these discoveries to one individual—an upright walking specimen of an extinct species of chimpanzee.
He dubbed it Anthropopithecus erectus (i.e., the erect-walking, human-like anthropoid). Despite further excavations, the team did not discover more than one other tooth. The teeth and femur were, in fact, human. However, the skullcap eventually was shown to be from a giant gibbon (monkey).
No missing link here.
posted by Believer | 8:42 AM
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