Homo erectus: Difference between revisions

The fossil commonly known as Java Man was found in 1891 by [[Eugene Dubois]]. Dubois, who was a former student of [[Ernst Haeckel]], had become intent on discovering the missing link that his mentor believed had evolved somewhere in Africa or East Asia. After years of excavations with the assistance of forced laborers, they dug up a tooth and skullcap on the banks of the Solo River on Java island (an island of Indonesia). The skullcap was ape-like, having a low forehead and large eyebrow ridges. The following year and about forty feet away, the workmen uncovered a thigh bone that was clearly [[human]]. Due to the close proximity of the find, Dubois assumed they belonged to the same creature. Dubois then named the find ''Pithecanthropus erectus'' (erect ape-man). In the 1950s, it was renamed ''Homo erectus''.