Java Man. Skull cap of the Trinil 2 hominid fossil Pithecanthropus erectus,meaning erect ape-man,later renamed Homo erectus,found in 1894 during excavations lead by Eugene Dubois (1858-1940). This specimen is popularly known as Java man. It was found,along with a complete femur (thighbone) in sedimentary deposits at a bend of the Solo river in Trinil,Java,Indonesia. Homo erectus is the most widespread and longest-surviving of all the fossil hominids. Its geographical spread included north and east Africa,Europe,Indonesia and China. It survived from approximately 1.6 million years ago (east Africa) to 300,000 (China) |