Homo erectus: cranium

National Museum of Natural History

Object Details

Discovered by
Eugene Dubois
Is this an original object?
No
Age
Between 1 million and 700,000 years old
Summary
While searching for fossils in Java, physician Eugène Dubois uncovered the tophalf of an early human skull in 1891. This skull, Trinil 2, is long, with a flat forehead and distinct browridges and a sagittal keel, though many of its features have been worn flat with age. Dubois named a new species, Pithecanthropus erectus after this specimen in 1894, but Ernst Mayr reassigned Trinil 2 to Homo erectus in the 1950s. This skull is flat on the bottom because the plaster base (brown and white areas) added underneath the fossil bone for display purposes is included in this scan.
Date of discovery
1891
Original Object Identifier
Trinil 2
USNM Number
N362451-0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
ark:/65665/3041ce912-1a3d-46de-ab1b-6258bba94e54
Original Object Holding Institution
Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (Netherlands)
Location of Discovery
Trinil, Indonesia
Site
Trinil, Java, Indonesia
Species
Homo erectus
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
Record ID
dpo_3d_200058
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
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