APE-MAN SKULL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22960, 11 February 1938, Page 5

APE-MAN SKULL

DISCOVERY IN JAVA MOST PRIMITIVE KNOWN IMPORTANCE TO SCIENCE [FROM OUR OWN CORRESFONDfcNr] NEW YORK, Jan. 10 * A new "missing link" between man and the higher apes has just been discovered on the island of Java, according to the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Dr. G. H. R. von Koenigswald, Dutch scientist of Bandoeng, Java, and a research associate of the institution, reported that he had found part of a skull, the lower jaw, and a number of teeth of this part ape, part human creature near the Solo River.

This ancient man, he added, "is the most primitive fossil man now known" and lived long before the original pithecanthropus erectus. The first of this species was found in Java in 1890 and was believed until now to have been the earliest man on earth.

Scientists' Conclusions Dr. John C. Merriam, president of the institution, said the discovery "is one of the most important finds in many decades." The now specimen, he said, proves that pithecanthropus man had progressed above the mental and physical level of the great apes, and also that man has been walking upright and using his hands and brain for about 1,000,000 years. Previous discoveries of fossilised bones of human beings ranged in ago from 12,000 to more than 500,000 years. Pithecanthropus man's age had been fixed at about 500,000 years on the basis of previous findings. Dr. Ivoenigswald made his discovery after a search of less than a year, Dr. Merriam said, principally because he knew the territory and where to look. His repox-t on "the most ancient human remains" was received in time for the annual meeting of the institution's board of trustees and the opening of its exhibition of scientific research. Heavy Lower Jaw

The owner of the skull he found was a lantern-jawed individual, Dr. Koenigswald reported. The lower jaw is "very heavy with largo teeth, having resemblance in various characters to several of the most primitive human types." The position of the ear and the socket for the movement of the lower jaw are typically human, but the absence of a well developed mastoid process near the ear is "very apelike." The skull was found . broken into small parts and required work to reassemble it. The rear portion was missing, possibly because of the headhunting customs of the ancients.