| Abstract: |
Among authorities there is no agreement concerning the taxonomic status of the mandibular specimens that have been assigned to the genus "Meganthropus." Despite morphological differences, mostly related to extreme size, these mandibles have been assigned by most authorities to a proposed highly sexually dimorphic population of early Homo erectus in Java. During the summers of 1991 1992 and 1993 I examined, measured, photographed and cast both described and undescribed cranial material that has been tentatively assigned to the proposed genus "Meganthropus." New evidence of cranial material has made this proposal even more problematic. Sangiram 31 was recovered from the Upper Pliocene Kalibeng beds of Sangiram, Java. It consists of nearly complete left and right parietals, part of the left temporal and an occipital. The overall morphology is different from known H. erectus specimens within and outside Southeast Asia. The cranium is smaller and thicker than any known specimen of H. erectus. It also possesses such large expansive temporal muscles that a double sagittal crest is present, which is not found on any H. erectus. Its endocranial capacity is estimated at no more than 700 cc. An additional specimen, consisting of an unnumbered occipital fragment, is morphologically similar to Sangiran 31. Either these cranial remains represent a new specimen of hominid in Southeast Asia similar to the late gracile australopithecines including H. habilis, or the range of H. erectus to be redefined.
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