This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Meganthropus is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Meganthropus Fossil range: Pleistocene |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||||
|
Fossil
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Trinomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| †Homo erectus palaeojavanicus? |
Meganthropus is a name commonly given to several large jaw and skull fragments from Sangiran, Central Java. The original scientific name was Meganthropus paleojavanicus, and while it is very commonly considered invalid today, the genus name has survived as something of an informal nickname for the fossils. As of 2005, the taxonomy and phylogeny for the specimens are still uncertain, although most paleoanthropologists considering them related to Homo erectus in some way. However, the names Homo paleojavanicus and even Australopithecus paleojavanicus are sometimes used as well, indicating the classification uncertainty. Of particular interest is that the finds were sometimes regarded as those of giants, although that is unsubstantiated.
After the discovery of a robust skull in Swartkrans in 1948 (SK48), the name Meganthropus africanus was briefly applied. However, that specimen is now formally known as Paranthropus robustus and the earlier name is a junior synonym.
Some of these finds were accompanied by evidence of tool use similar to that of Homo erectus. This is the reason it is often linked with that species.
Contents |
Fossil finds
The number of fossil finds has been relatively small, and it is a distinct possibility that they are a paraphyletic assemblage. Due to this, they will be discussed in detail separately.
Meganthropus A/Sangiran 6
This large jaw fragment was first found in 1941 by von Koenigswald. Koenigswald was captured by the Japanese in World War II, but managed to send a cast of the jaw to Franz Weidenreich. Weidenreich described and named the specimen in 1945, and was struck by its size, it was the largest hominid jaw then known. The jaw was roughly the same height as a gorilla's, but was much thicker. Weidenreich considered acromegalic gigantism, but ruled it out for not having typical features such as an exaggerated chin and small teeth compared to the jaw's size. Weidenreich never made a direct size estimate of the hominid it came from, but said it was 2/3 the size of Gigantopithecus, which was twice as large as a gorilla, which would make it somewhere around 8 feet (2.44 m) tall. The jawbone was apparently used in part of Grover Krantz's skull reconstruction, which was only 8.5 inches (21 centimeters) tall.
Meganthropus B/Sangiran 8
This was another jaw fragment described by Marks in 1953. It was around the same size and shape as the original mandible, but it was also severely damaged. Recent work by a Japanese/Indonesian team repaired the fossil, which was an adult, and showed it to be smaller than known specimens of H. erectus. Curiously, the specimen did retain several traits unique to the first mandibular find and not known in H. erectus. No size estimates have been made yet.
Meganthropus C/Sangiran 33/BK 7905
This mandibular fragment was discovered in 1979, and has some characteristics in common with previous mandible finds . Its connection with Meganthropus appears to be the most tenuous out of the mandibular discoveries.
Meganthropus D
This mandible and ramus was acquired by Sartono in 1993, and has been dated to between 1.4 and 0.9 million years ago. The ramus portion is badly damaged, but the mandible fragment appears relatively unharmed, although details of the teeth have been lost. It is slightly smaller than Meganthropus A and very similar in shape. Sartono, Tyler, and Krantz agreed that Meganthropus A and D were very likely to be representations of the same species, whatever it turns out to be .
Meganthropus I/Sangiran 27
Tyler described this specimen as being a nearly complete but crushed cranium within the size limit of Meganthropus and outside the (assumed) limit of H. erectus. The specimen was unusual for having a double sagittal crest and a heavily thickened nuchal crest . A.C. Durband challenged the interpretation of the fossil, and showed it to be well within the known range for H. erectus .
Meganthropus II/Sangiran 31
This skull fragment was first described by Sartono in 1982. Tyler's analysis came to the conclusion that it was out of the normal range of H. erectus. The cranium was thicker, lower vaulted, and wider than any specimen previously recovered.It had the same double sagittal crest or double temporal ridge with a cranial capacity of around 800-1000cc. However, Andrew Kramer analyzed the same fossil and came to the conclusion that the "sagittal crest" was due to damage, and that the specimen showed remarkable similarities with Sangiran 4, a certain H. erectus(reference?). Since its presentation at the AAPA meeting in 1993, Tyler's reconstruction of Sangiran 31 has been accepted by most authorities. As with most fossils it was heavily damaged, but given the completeness of the post facial cranium the chances of error in its reconstruction are very small. Durband's analysis showed that while Meganthropus II had differences with H. erectus, it was within the range of variation . Tyler's accepted reconstruction of Sangiran 31 shows a double sagittal crest or double temporal crest. In either case, the temporal muscles extend to the top of the parietal where they almost join. There are no other Homo erectus specimens that exhibits this trait. Krantz's reconstruction of making Sangiran 31 a giant Homo habilis is dubious at best.
Meganthropus III
Another fossil with only tenuous ties to Meganthropus. Durband's analysis showed it to be within the range of H. erectus .
Scientific interpretation
Weidenreich theorized that Meganthropus was a descendant of Gigantopithecus, and gave rise to Pithecanthropus, and then modern Asians. This hypothesis, part of the multi-regional theory of human evolution, has been discarded by mainstream paleoanthropology.
The second major theory, first proposed by J.T. Robinson, was that the Meganthropus finds are representative of a Southeast Asian australopithecine. This position has been adopted by several authorities, such as Koenigswald and Krantz, but they were still regarded as a vocal minority . There was also discussion as to whether they are closer to Australopithecus or Paranthropus.
The majority of paleoanthropologists believe that Meganthropus is related to H. erectus, but it is not agreed upon how closely. Sartono believes that while it is related to H. erectus, the finds represent a new species, H. paleojavanicus. On the other side, several authors believe that they are merely the males of H. erectus, the alleged large size and robusticity being only due to early author's assumption that the females were males . There appears to be a consensus that there are some differences between Meganthropus and conventional H. erectus, but opinion is variable as to what the differences mean.
Extreme claims
Meganthropus has been the target of numerous extreme claims, none of which are supported by peer-reviewed authors. Perhaps the most common claim is that Meganthropus was a giant, one unsourced claim put them at 9 feet (2.75 m) tall and 750 to 1000 pounds (340 to 450 kilograms). No exact height has been published in a peer reviewed journal recently, and none give an indication of Meganthropus being substantially larger than H. erectus.
There have been some rumors of post-cranial material, but those have either yet to be published or belong to H. erectus. Reports, most if not all apparently from Australian researcher Rex Gilroy, place Meganthropus in Australia, and attach it to giant tools and even modern day reports. However, most all paleoanthropologists maintain that Meganthropus was only known from central Java. In a similar way, some Bigfoot researchers claim that Meganthropus is their subject's identity.
Some creationists insist that Meganthropus are Nephilim, but there is nothing to suggest that it was anything other than a hominid, albeit a particularly robust one.
References
- ^ ^ . Yousuke Kaifu, Fachroel Aziz, and Hisao Baba. Hominid Mandibular Remains From Sangiran: 1952-1986 collection. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2005. Abstract Available: here
- ^ G. Krantz, S. Sartono, and D. Tyler. A New Meganthropus Mandible from Java. Human Evolution, 1995. Abstract Available in the 1995 Supplements of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
- ^ ^ D. Tyler. Taxonomic Status of "Meganthropus" Cranial Material. Abstract Available in the 1993 Supplements of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
- ^ ^ ^ A.C. Durband 2003 A re-examination of purported Meganthropus cranial fragments. Paper not yet published. Abstract available in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology supplements for 2003. Also available: [10]
- ^ ^ A. Kramer. 1994. A Critical Analysis of Southeast Asian Australopithecines. Journal of Human Evolution volume 26, number 1.
- ^ Russell Ciochon, John Olsenm and Jamie James, Other Origins: The Search for the Giant Ape in Human Prehistory. Bantam Books, 1990.
- Bernard Heuvelmans. On the Track of Unknown Animals. Rupert Hart Davis, London, 1962.
- Franz Weidenreich. Apes, Giants, and Men. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
External links
|
||||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 4 December 2008, at 02:35.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Meganthropus".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.