Mankind, 8 (1972), pp. 176-81

New Hominid Finds in Indonesia and their

Affinities

TFAJKU JACOB*

In the last decade new hominid fossils have been discovered in Indonesia, all of them from the Sangiran dome area in Central Java (Jacob, 1967a; TABLE 1). The site, located approximately 15 kilometres north of the town of Surakarta, has been widely known owing to the works of von Koenigswald in the 1930s and his important finds consisting of three skulls, three mandibles and isolated teeth. Some of the fossils were associated

* Department of Physical Anthropology, Gadjah Mada University, College of Medicine, Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Ms. received December 1971.

with the Trinil fauna of the Kabuh for- mation, and others with the Djetis fauna of the Putjangan formation (von Koenigswald, 1960).

In 1952 a mandible was found in the Kabuh formation and in 1960 another one was found in the Putjangan formation. In 1963, 1965 and 1969 skull caps were dis- covered in the river gravels of Kabuh. And in 1963 and 1969 isolated teeth were found. Fragments of frontal, tempgral, parietal and occipital bones were found in 1965 and 1970. In this paper, I should like to report on two other finds, namely fragments of a skull base and of a maxilla.

TABLE 1 HOMINID FINDS FROM SANGIRAN (CENTRAL JAVA)

Year of Number Find and code discovery Stratigraphy

Sangiran 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Sangiran 8 9

10 11 12 1 3 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20

Before 1950 Mandible PB 1936 Skull PII 1937 Skull Pi11 1938

Mandible P. dubius 1939 Mandible MA 1939

Skull PN 1938-9

Teeth 1937-41 After 19:

Mandible MB Mandible P c Skull PVI Molar and incisor Skull PVII Calvarial fragments Skull base fragments Maxillary Eragment Molar Skull PVIII Calvarial fragments Occipital fragment Calvarial fragments

i0 1952 1960 I963 1963 1965 1965 1966 1969 1969 1969 I970 1970 1970

Putjangan Kabuh Kabuh Putjangan Putjangan Putjangan Ka buh-Putjangan

Kabuh Putjangan Kabuh Kabuh (?) Kabuh

? Kabuh Kabuh

? Kabuh Kabuh Kabuh Kabuh

P = Pithecanthropus M = Meganthropus

[ 1761

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TABLE 2

HOMINIDS AND ANTHROPOIDS ( I N M M . ) BREADTHS OF THE OCCIPITAL CONDYLE AND FORAMEN MAGNUM AND THEIR RATIO IN

Breadth of Breadth of Primate occipital condyle foramen magnum Index

___ - Sangiran 14 11-12 35 31.4-34.2 Sangiran 4" 13.4 29 46.2 Ngandong VIb 11 31.5 35 Ngandong XIb 9-10 29 31 .O-34.5 A. boiseic 10.3- 10.9 26.1 39.1 -41.8 H. sapierrs (Negro)d 9-17 (12.3) 22-34 (28.5) 43.2 Porzgoc 8-13 (10.6) 21-28 (24.9) 36.0-59.1 (41.6)

TABLE 3

DIMENSIONS OF THE OCCIPITAL CONDYLE I N HOMINIDS AND ANTHROPOIDS ( I N MM.)

Primate Breadth Length Index

Sangiran 14 1 1 19 57.9 Sangiran 4" 13.4 21-26 5 1.6-63.7

Ngandong Xib 9-10 21 42.8-47.6 Ngandong V P I 1 18 61.1

A. boiseip 10.3 20.0 51.5 H. sapiens (Negro)a 9-17 (12.3) 15-29 (22.8) 36.7-85.0 (54.4) Pongee 8-13 (10.6) 17-23 (19.1) 34.8-70.6 (55.8)

a Weidenreich (1945) b Jacob (1967b) r Tobias (1967) d Jacob (unpublished data on 100 American Negro skulls, Howard University Department of Anatomy)

Jacob (unpublished data on 10 pongid skulls. Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense)

The skull base fragments

In 1966 one of our local collectors at Sangi- ran found the posterior half of a skull of a female deer in a gravel layer of Kabuh at Bapang. Associated with the skull, he found small bone fragments which he con- sidered insignificant, but nevertheless saved them for us in accordance with our instruc- tions. The deer skull was handed to our team in 1968. On examination I was pleased to see a skull of Axis, but more so by the small pieces of bone showing occipital con- dyles. Examination of the site revealed fossil fragments of stegodonts (Soerastopo Hadi- soemarno, 1968; Jacob, 1970).

After mending five pieces of the bones, I had a beautiful basilar and a condylar por- tion of an occipital bone extending from the sphenooccipital suture to the posterior half of the foramen magnum. Nine more fragments comprise the left mastoid, pieces

of the petrous pyramids and of the sphenoid bone, and the posterior wall of the left external auditory meatus. The small mastoid process with its numerous air cells exposed, resembles the mastoid of Sangiran 10. The basilar portion is very interesting, because it has parts which are not intact, or not present in all previous erectus finds from Indonesia as well as those from China, Tan- zania and Hungary. The part in question is the region anterior to the foramen mag- num (PLATES I and 11).

The basilar portion is broader posteriorly where it has pronounced basioccipital crests for the rectus capitis anterior muscles (TABLES 2 and 3). Like in the Ngandong skulls (Weidenreich, 1951; Jacob, 1967b), the distinct crests for the longus capitis are separated by a groove and converge anteriorly; the pharyngeal raphe is also dis- tinct. The occipital condyles are located near the anterior end of the foramen magnum

VOL. 8 No. 3 MANKIND JUNE 1972

as in Sangiran 4 and Ngandong 6 and 11. Their axes diverge posteriorly, a condition also found in Sangiran 4 and Austrulo- pithecus boisei (Tobias, 1967); the length of the condyle is ca. 19 mm. Similar to Sangiran 4 and Ngandong 6 and 11, the distinct and broader anterior end is elevated, and the articular facet turns outward, form- ing an angle of 30° on the left and 32O on the right with the horizontal plane. The posterior end turns upward as in Ngandong 6 and Pongo, and tapers off, so that the articular facet has a comma-shaped appear- ance with the hilus medially and posteriorly. Transversely, the facet is flat, while sagit- tally, it is strongly curved. The same applies to the Ngandong and Pongo skulls. On the medial aspect of the condyle a tubercle is found for the alar ligament. The single wide and oval hypoglossal canal is situated directly above the condyle as in Sangiran 4 and Ngandong 11. The length of the canal is 5.5 mm on the right side and 8 mm on the left; the breadth is 4 mm on both sides.

Sangiran 14 has a foramen magnum which is broad posteriorly and narrow anteriorly, where it is impinged by the occipital con- dyles. The minimum distance between these latter structures is 19 mm, which is larger than in A . boisei (12 mm). Whereas the anterior portion of the foramen is in the plane of the cranial base, the posterior or cervical portion turns upward into the plane of the nuchal area; the two planes make an angle of 128O. In the Ngandong skulls the angle is 115-120" and in La Chapelle-aux- Saints it is 155O. On the left, lateral to basion, a small bony projection is dis- cernible, the so-called ectobasionic process,

which is also present in A. boisei, for the ligament of the dental apex (Tobias, 1967).

On the basilar portion there is a wing-like projection beside the pyramids, in front of the hypoglossal canal and anteromedial to the jugular foramen. A similar structure is found in the Ngandong, Broken Hill and Pongo skulls. In H . supiens it is absent as is also the case in Pan and Gorilla (Weiden- reich, 195 1 ) . The basilar portion is narrow anteriorly and broadens posteriorly. On the right side a bony bridge extends towards the pyramid and thus closing the petroocci- pita1 fissure. Such a bony shelf is present in A . boisei, and also in Gorilla and occa- sionally in modern man. I might add here, that in Ngandong 6 and 11 the foramen lacerum is absent and the pyramid is closely located to the basilar portion (Jacob, 1967b). The clivus in Sangiran 14 is short and concave, while in A . boisei it is long and narrow. Its margins join the jugular portion (TABLE 4 ) .

The jugular process is quadrilateral and contains no air cells. The jugular notch is deep and an intrajugular process is faintly discernible. Jugular tubercles on the medial border of the occipital condyles for the alar ligaments overhang the hypoglossal canals.

As in Ngandong 1 1, Broken Hill and anthropoid skulls, the sphenoid sinus occu- pies the entire body of the sphenoid (Jacob, 1967b). It consists of three compartments, the central one being the largest, with a diameter of 8 mm. The sphenooccipital fissure is obliterated.

Discussion From the above description it is evident that

TABLE 4

DIMENSIONS OF THE BASILAR PORTION OF THE OCCIPITAL BONE IN HOMINIDS AND ANTHROPOIDS (IN M M . )

Length Primate Breadth (hormion-basion) Index

- Sangiran 14 22 25 88 Ngandong VIn 24.5 34.5 71 Ngandong XI8 23.2 35.2 68.8 Pongob 18-30 (23.4) 19-26 (22.9) 72-150 (99.3)

8 Jacob (1967b) b Jacob (unpublished data on 10 pongid skulls, Museum Zoologicurn

Bogoriense)

178 1

J U N E 1972 MANKIND VOL. 8 No. 3

the specimen resembles more the Ngandong and Sangiran 4 skulls than it does the anthropoid. The likeness is reflected in the mastoid, the size of the foramen magnum and the proportion of the condyles. The find was extracted from a gravel layer of the Kabuh formation of Sangiran and associated with Axis lydekkeri and Stegodon trigono- cephdus. Therefore, I consider it to belong to P. erectus.

The specimen is interesting in that it is the only case so far where only cranial base fragments were found of P. erectus. Our collector who found it did not realize their significance, in fact he almost threw them away. Skull base fragments are tiny and not easily identifiable especially by laymen; the size of the fragments is merely 1-2.5 cm. The intensive fragmentation is due to the nature of the base of the skull where numerous holes, apertures, fissures and grooves are found. The base is, in addition, easily broken due to its contrasting vari- ations in thickness as compared to the relative homogeneity in the thickness of the calvaria. I may add, that even in Pithecan- thropus with its notoriously thick calvarial bones, the thickness of the base is about the same as in modem man (Jacob, 1967b; 1970).

The usual absence of the base in Pithecan- thropus remains has led to the hypothesis of brain-eating in Pleistocene men. And this, in turn, leads to another, currently popular theory maintaining that aggression in man is a thing of considerable antiquity and

genetically determined. I think we should have some reserve in this matter. It is pos- sible but admittedly very dii3icult to find cranial base fragments of Pleistocene homi- nids in volcanic and fluviatile deposits. The base of the skull with its many spots of least resistance does not stand well against the impact of repetitive volcanic and stream actions during its hundreds of thousands of years of post-mortem existence. The broken fragments are exceedingly small, difficult to identify and to reconstruct in contradistinction to the calvarial fragments (Jacob, 1964b; 1966).

The maxillary fragment The second find I should like to report here is Sangiran 15, a maxillary fragment (PLATES 111-VI). It is light brown in colour and consists of the right premolar portion with PI, the roots of P2, and the sockets of the canine and 12. The specimen was dis- covered in 1969, also in a gravel layer of Kabuh, in the northern part of Sangiran, associated with bovid remains. The floor of the nasal cavity is preserved on the right side; its inferior border is not distinct. The maximum breadth of the piriform aperture is estimated to be 33.0 mm; other measure- ments are shown in TABLE 5. Alveolar prognathism is present.

The large maxillary sinus reaches below the level of the nasal floor; a root of P2 projects into its wall. The depth of the palate is approximately 11.95 mm. The dis- tance between the inferior border of the

TABLE 5 MAXILLARY DIMENSIONS IN HOMINIDS (IN MM.)

~~~

Nasal Nasospinale- Depth of Hominid breadth prosthion palate

Sangiran 14 33.0 25.3 11.95 Sangiran 48 36 31.5 14 P. pekinensisb 30 12 Broken Hill* 31.1 32 19.2 WadjakC 30-31 15-16 H. sapiensa 17-36 6-21 A ustrdopirhecusd 29-32 42.2 9-21.5

a Weidenreich (1945) b Weidenreich (1943) c Jacob (1967b) d Tobias (1967)

VOL. 8 No. 3 MANKIND JUNE 1972

TABLE 6 CROWN DIMENSIONS OF THE FIRST UPPER PREMOLAR IN FOSSIL AND

MODERN MEN (IN MM.)

Hominid Mesiodistal

diameter Buccolingual

diameter Sangiran 14 Sangiran 48 P. pekinensisb Wadjakc Australoidd Javanesee

1.45 8.35

7.4-9.2 (8.3) 8.8 7.4

6.4-9.0 (7.5)

10.1 12.4

10.5-12.8 (11.9) 11.1 10.0

8.3-11.6 (9.8)

a Weidenreich (1945) b Woo (1962) c Jacob (1967b) d hnzer (Snell 1938) e Mijsberg (1931)

piriform aperture and the neck of I2 is 25.3 mm.

As regards the teeth, the intact P1 pos- sesses two roots and displays severe attrition as indicated by the exposed dentine. The crown has two equal cusps which are more mesially located, especially the lingual cusp. The mesiodistal dimension is 7.45 mm and the buccolingual 10.1 mm; enamel thickness varies between 1.2-1.85 mm (TABLE 6).

Two grooves are present on the buccal surface, neither of which reaches the neck of the tooth. The surface is convex, more in the mesiodistal direction than in the cervicoocclusal one. Mesially and distally interproximal facets are evident. The buccal root is 15.7 mm long and exposed due to erosion of its maxillary wall. Apically it curves in the distal direction.

P2, which also has two roots, is broken below the neck. The tooth is not taurodont and its roots curve mesially. The canine has a big socket; its root is 21.2 mm long. The width of the interalveolar septum is 2.2 mm between C and 12, and 1.85 mm between P2 and C. No diastema is present.

Discussion The nasal breadth in our specimen is be- tween that of Peking man and of Sangiran 4. The depth of the palate resembles Peking man, while the prosthion-nasospinale dis- tance is small even if compared with that of Sangiran 4 (Weidenreich, 1943; 1945 ) . Alveolar prognathism is not different from Sangiran 4.

Two roots in P' is also a condition in

Peking man, but P1 in Sangiran 4 has three roots. In the Europeans 50.64 per cent of P1 and in the Bantus 59.9 per cent have two roots, while in the Indians the percen- tage is low ( 11.4 per cent). The length of the root of P1 is in the modern range, but the root of the canine is quite long (Robin- son, 1956; Tobias, 1967; Woo, 1962).

The crown dimensions are not remark- able; in fact, they are comparable to the present Javanese and Australoids, and smaller than in Sangiran 4 and Wadjak. They can be compared with the small speci- mens in the Peking material. The enamel thickness is in the modern range. While in Sangiran 4 the diastema is 5.0-6.2 mm wide, no trace of the structure is evident in this specimen.

Conclusion The two new finds described above demon- strate that Sangiran is still promising for the study of hominid evolution in the east. The cranial base fragments enable us for the first time to have a picture of the region anterior to the foramen magnum. The maxillary fragment is the first one found since 1939. Both of these fragments, situated on the basal side of the skull, are very rarely pre- served in Lower and Middle Pleistocene hominid remains. I tend to believe that careful examination of such tiny, irregularly shaped fossil fragments, which moreover are easily confused with animal bones, will result in more finds of the elusive cranial base.

New discoveries are stil l being made at

JUNE 1972 MANKIND VOL. 8 No. 3

Sangiran. Several recent finds have not been described in detail and several others have not been definitely identified as yet. Von Koenigswald’s contention that it is possible to find one hominid fossil a year at Sangi- ran seems to be true. Acknowledgments. This research is sup- ported by grants from the Department of Education of the Republic of Indonesia, Djakarta, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc., New York, N.Y.

Professor Dr Otto Soemarwoto and Dr S. Somadikarta, National Biological Insti- tute, Bogor, had kindly allowed the author to study Pongo materials in the Bogor Zoo- logical Museum.

The author’s thanks are also due to Pro- fessor Dr w. Montague Cobb, Department of Anatomy, Howard University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C., who generously made possible the study of the Negro skulls.

The accompanying photographs were made by Mr Ngadimin, Department of Pathology, Gadjah Mada University, College of Medicine, Jogjakarta.

Lastly, the Ford Foundation, Djakarta, and the Asia Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, had made it possible for the author to present this report at the 28th International Congress of Orientalists, Canberra, January 1971.

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