Abstract
Since the first discovery of Pithecanthropus (Homo) erectus by E. Dubois at Trinil in 1891, over 200 hominid dentognathic remains have been collected from the Early to Middle Pleistocene deposits of Java, Indonesia, forming the largest palaeoanthropological collection in South East Asia. Most of these fossils are currently attributed to H. erectus. However, because of the substantial morphological and metric variation in the Indonesian assemblage, some robust specimens, such as the partial mandibles Sangiran 5 and Sangiran 6a, were formerly variably allocated to other taxa (Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, Pithecanthropus dubius, Pongo sp.). To resolve the taxonomic uncertainty surrounding these and other contentious Indonesian hominid specimens, we used occlusal fingerprint analysis (OFA) to reconstruct their chewing kinematics; we also used various morphometric approaches based on microtomography to examine the internal dental structures. Our results confirm the presence of Meganthropus as a Pleistocene Indonesian hominid distinct from Pongo, Gigantopithecus and Homo, and further reveal that Dubois’s H. erectus paratype molars from 1891 are not hominin (human lineage), but instead are more likely to belong to Meganthropus.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 755-764 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Nature Ecology and Evolution |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2019 |
Keywords
- Human Evolution
- Dental morphology
- Southeast Asia
- Primates
- Great apes
Cite this
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Evidence for increased hominid diversity in the Early to Middle Pleistocene of Indonesia. / Zanolli, Clément; Kullmer, Ottmar; Kelley, Jay; Bacon, Anne-Marie; Demeter, Fabrice ; Dumoncel, Jean ; Fiorenza, Luca; Grine, Frederick E. ; Hublin, Jean-Jacques ; Nguyen, Anh Tuan ; Nguyen, Thi Mai Huong ; Pan, Lei ; Schillinger, Burkhard ; Schrenk, Friedemann ; Skinner, Matthew M. ; Ji, Xueping ; Macchiarelli, Roberto.
In: Nature Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 3, No. 5, 05.2019, p. 755-764.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for increased hominid diversity in the Early to Middle Pleistocene of Indonesia
AU - Zanolli, Clément
AU - Kullmer, Ottmar
AU - Kelley, Jay
AU - Bacon, Anne-Marie
AU - Demeter, Fabrice
AU - Dumoncel, Jean
AU - Fiorenza, Luca
AU - Grine, Frederick E.
AU - Hublin, Jean-Jacques
AU - Nguyen, Anh Tuan
AU - Nguyen, Thi Mai Huong
AU - Pan, Lei
AU - Schillinger, Burkhard
AU - Schrenk, Friedemann
AU - Skinner, Matthew M.
AU - Ji, Xueping
AU - Macchiarelli, Roberto
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - Since the first discovery of Pithecanthropus (Homo) erectus by E. Dubois at Trinil in 1891, over 200 hominid dentognathic remains have been collected from the Early to Middle Pleistocene deposits of Java, Indonesia, forming the largest palaeoanthropological collection in South East Asia. Most of these fossils are currently attributed to H. erectus. However, because of the substantial morphological and metric variation in the Indonesian assemblage, some robust specimens, such as the partial mandibles Sangiran 5 and Sangiran 6a, were formerly variably allocated to other taxa (Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, Pithecanthropus dubius, Pongo sp.). To resolve the taxonomic uncertainty surrounding these and other contentious Indonesian hominid specimens, we used occlusal fingerprint analysis (OFA) to reconstruct their chewing kinematics; we also used various morphometric approaches based on microtomography to examine the internal dental structures. Our results confirm the presence of Meganthropus as a Pleistocene Indonesian hominid distinct from Pongo, Gigantopithecus and Homo, and further reveal that Dubois’s H. erectus paratype molars from 1891 are not hominin (human lineage), but instead are more likely to belong to Meganthropus.
AB - Since the first discovery of Pithecanthropus (Homo) erectus by E. Dubois at Trinil in 1891, over 200 hominid dentognathic remains have been collected from the Early to Middle Pleistocene deposits of Java, Indonesia, forming the largest palaeoanthropological collection in South East Asia. Most of these fossils are currently attributed to H. erectus. However, because of the substantial morphological and metric variation in the Indonesian assemblage, some robust specimens, such as the partial mandibles Sangiran 5 and Sangiran 6a, were formerly variably allocated to other taxa (Meganthropus palaeojavanicus, Pithecanthropus dubius, Pongo sp.). To resolve the taxonomic uncertainty surrounding these and other contentious Indonesian hominid specimens, we used occlusal fingerprint analysis (OFA) to reconstruct their chewing kinematics; we also used various morphometric approaches based on microtomography to examine the internal dental structures. Our results confirm the presence of Meganthropus as a Pleistocene Indonesian hominid distinct from Pongo, Gigantopithecus and Homo, and further reveal that Dubois’s H. erectus paratype molars from 1891 are not hominin (human lineage), but instead are more likely to belong to Meganthropus.
KW - Human Evolution
KW - Dental morphology
KW - Southeast Asia
KW - Primates
KW - Great apes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064081096&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0860-z
DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0860-z
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 755
EP - 764
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
SN - 2397-334X
IS - 5
ER -