The Solo River basin was a sand mining area in Java. In March of 1999, Henry Galiano, a specialist in historical artifacts from New York City analyzed a Homo erectus skull traced to Poloyo near the Solo River on the island of Java. Along with the Homo erectus skull, named SM-3 after Sambungmachan (the district where it was found), miners found another skull, a tibidal fragment along with animal fossils. Many experts have examined SM-3 sparking debate as to whether the skull is a younger Ngandong skull or an older fossil from Sangiran and Trinil.
The reason for the debate is the combination of cranial features exhibited by the fossil as shown by an endocast. The thick cranial bone and distinctly pronounced brow ridge cause some experts to believe the skull is of Ngandong decent. The opposing experts, like paleoneurologist, Teuku Jacob, use the skull's small brain cavity as an indicator of older decent. So far the date of SM-3 is said to be between 100,000 and 1.5 million years old. Although its mixture of features is still confusing to the experts, they have agreed that the skull is from an adolescent male. The rest of the cranial features are still being analyzed.
Sources:
Case of the Curious Cranium. Archeology Online. Angela M. H. Schuster. 26 Feb 2001. http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/java/index.html
The Endocast of SM-3: A New Homo erectus From Java. Paleontology Society. 27 Feb 2001. http://www.paleoanthro.org/default.htm
Skull Found in Shop May Be Clue to Human Evolution. Sci-Tech Digest. Richard Pyle. 27 Feb 2001. http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/090899/tec_skull.shtml
By: Tiffany Finke