Homo erectus soloensis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homo erectus soloensis (formerly classified as Homo sapiens soloensis) is generally 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 Indonesian 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 just what the behavior of Homo erectus was limited to 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 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. This subspecies was also once called Javanthropus. 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.