Currently, the human deciduous dental record from the Pleistocene deposits of the Sangiran Dome, Java, consists of only eight specimens. Here we report two deciduous crowns collected near the village of Pucung. While their precise geo-chronological context remains unknown, a provenance from the Early-Middle Pleistocene Kabuh Formation, or from the Early Pleistocene "Grenzbank Zone," is very likely. These isolated specimens consist of an upper first molar (PCG.1) and a lower second molar (PCG.2). Taxonomic discrimination of the Indonesian tooth record is difficult because of the convergence in crown size and appearance between Pongo and Homo. Accordingly, as PCG.2 still bears a concretion masking most of its features, we coupled the outer analysis of the two specimens with an investigation of their inner morphology. In addition to external characteristics, virtual imaging and quantitative assessment of inner morphology and tissue proportions support an attribution to the taxon Homo, and we preliminary allocate both specimens toH. erectus.
Between the famous Man of Java and the new star of paleoanthropology id est the Man of Flores, embedded in the bank of the river Solo or in the shadow of the volcanoes of Sangiran, Homo erectus remains apart. Driven from evolved Homo erectus to archaic Homo sapiens, for a long time Solo man did not find a real place in taxonomy and in the scientific debate, whereas Neandertal is still famous for its cultural or biological struggle against the ancestors of modern humans. Are there two human evolutionary trends: one in Europe with its first inhabitants over 1.3 Ma that became Neandertals, and another one in Asia, where human fossils are assessed to be older than 1.5 Ma? In 1932, Oppenoorth described Homo (Javanthropus) soloensis from the skull series gathered from the deposits of the Solo River. Since that time, some authors followed the point of view that this series belong to archaic Homo sapiens, but most paleoanthropologists considered them as evolved Homo erectus. To take stock of the taxonomy of Indonesian Homo erectus, three independent approaches and the authors' research done using different techniques and methods were compared. Considering the studies separately undertaken on Homo erectus (Brain structure analyses, 3D morphometry study, cladistic analysis performed from a biometric and morphological database), two categories existed. As far as a chronological gap splits these two categories, this reappraisal of Homo erectus poses the question of the possible occurrence of two different species. This question is still debated among the authors, but the convergent point of view brings new light on the multi-regionalism hypothesis within Homo. This Asian point of view sheds light on the older European evidence of human inhabitants.
The skull of Ngawi 1 was discovered fortuitously in August 1987 on the left bank of the river Solo near the village of Selopuro (east Java, Indonesia). It is a complete, well preserved and strongly mineralized calvaria. The present article provides a complete description of this specimen.
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