HUMAN ORGANIC EVOLUTION: FACT OR FANCY? 



the genus Homo, i.e., on the branch Hominidae. But it appears 

 that no certain conclusion can as yet be reached as to whether 

 or not this fossil form represents a kind of first "man." Some, 

 like Dart, have suggested that he was an animal-hunting, 

 flesh eating, shell cracking and bone breaking ape. The 

 authorities are not in agreement whether this was done by 

 Australopithecus, or by some hyenas. 



The problem is further complicated by the reported appear- 

 ance of some cultural materials, which may and may not have 

 been used by Australopithecus. In any event, the exact 

 taxonomic position has to be determined by further study, 

 but in the meantime authorities like Clark, who are more 

 disinterested than its discoverers, provisionally class these 

 fossils in the ancestral family of the hominidae from which 

 other genera of hominidae may have been derived. ^ 



The fossils to which attention must next be directed are 

 those coming from Central Java and from China. The first 

 find, already mentioned before was named by its discoverer, 

 Dubois, Pithecanthropus erectus, because in addition to the 

 ape-like skull cap he found a femur which suggested erect 

 posture. Since the original finds made in 1891 still further 

 fossils from similar strata, and older strata were recovered 

 just prior to World War II by Von Koenigswald in the same 

 area of Central Java. The best geologic opinion as to the 

 dating suggests that they come from lower and middle 

 Pleistocene times, that is they are "younger" than Austra- 

 lopithecus finds. Dating here, though more secure than in 

 South Africa, nevertheless is based on faunal correlations. But 

 the stratigraphic record is good and distinct. This group of 

 fossils is well represented by at least four skull bones or parts 

 thereof, jaw bones, many teeth, and a femur. 



Although these finds were given by von Koenigswald and 

 Weidenreich specific names, partially because of the variation 

 in size, it seems desirable to follow Clark's classification, 

 which asserts that on morphological grounds, all the finds 

 belong to one species, Pithecanthropus erectus, though he is 

 wilhng to admit that there may have been "races. "lo This 

 group of fossils may briefly be characterized somewhat as 



» Op. cit., p. 160. 

 10 Op. cit., p. 87. 



34 



