Homo erectus soloensis
Encyclopedia
Homo erectus soloensis, known as Solo Man and formerly classified as Homo sapiens soloensis, is generally now regarded as a subspecies of the extinct hominin, Homo erectus
. The only known specimens of this anomalous hominid were retrieved from sites along the Bengawan Solo River
, on the Indonesia
n island of Java. The remains are also commonly referred to as Ngandong, after the village near where they were first recovered.
Though its morphology was, for the most part, typical of Homo erectus, its culture was unusually advanced. This poses many problems to current theories concerning the limitations of Homo erectus behavior in terms of innovation and language. Due to the tools found with the extinct hominid and many of its more gracile anatomical features, it was first classified as a subspecies (once called Javanthropus) of Homo sapiens and thought to be the ancestor of modern aboriginal Australians. However, more rigorous studies have concluded that this is not the case. Analysis of 18 crania from Sangiran, Trinil, Sambungmacan, and Ngandong show chronological development from Bapang-AG to Ngandong period. While most subspecies of Homo erectus disappeared from the fossil record roughly 400,000 years ago, H. e. soloensis persisted up until 50,000 years ago in regions of Java and was possibly absorbed by a local Homo sapiens population at the time of its decline.
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
. The only known specimens of this anomalous hominid were retrieved from sites along the Bengawan Solo River
Bengawan Solo River
Bengawan Solo River is the longest river on the Indonesian island of Java, approximately 600 km in length. Apart from its importance as watercourse to the inhabitants and farmlands of the eastern and northern parts of the island, it is a renowned region in paleoanthropology circles...
, on the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n island of Java. The remains are also commonly referred to as Ngandong, after the village near where they were first recovered.
Though its morphology was, for the most part, typical of Homo erectus, its culture was unusually advanced. This poses many problems to current theories concerning the limitations of Homo erectus behavior in terms of innovation and language. Due to the tools found with the extinct hominid and many of its more gracile anatomical features, it was first classified as a subspecies (once called Javanthropus) of Homo sapiens and thought to be the ancestor of modern aboriginal Australians. However, more rigorous studies have concluded that this is not the case. Analysis of 18 crania from Sangiran, Trinil, Sambungmacan, and Ngandong show chronological development from Bapang-AG to Ngandong period. While most subspecies of Homo erectus disappeared from the fossil record roughly 400,000 years ago, H. e. soloensis persisted up until 50,000 years ago in regions of Java and was possibly absorbed by a local Homo sapiens population at the time of its decline.
External links
- Morphology of Solo man Anthropological papers of the AMNH
- Early Indonesia content excerpted from Indonesia: A Country Study, William H. Frederick and Robert L. Worden , eds. Washington, DC: Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, 1992
- Human species before and after the genetic bottleneck associated with Toba, including details on the Java finds
- O. Frank Huffman, John de Vos, Aart W. Berkhout, and Fachroel Aziz (2010) "Provenience Reassessment of the 1931-1933 Ngandong Homo erectus (Java), Confirmation of the Bone-Bed Origin Reported by the Discoverers." PaleoAnthropology 2010:1-60
- Indriati E, Swisher CC III, Lepre C, Quinn RL, Suriyanto RA, et al. 2011 The Age of the 20 Meter Solo River Terrace, Java, Indonesia and the Survival of Homo erectus in Asia. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21562. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021562