Question

Pithecanthropus was discovered in
A. China
B. Germany
C. Java
D. Africa

Answer 1

Homo erectus Erectus is known as Pithecanthropus which is also called Java man. It was the subspecies of Homo erectus and lived around 0.6 million years ago and the fossil was founded in Java, Indonesia. It is discovered by German-born palaeontology G. H. R. von Koenigswald in central Java.

Complete answer:
In early 1890, the first known fossil of the homo Erectus species, Java man is around 5 feet 8 inches tall and walks like a modern man due to his thigh bone appearing different that is thick like a modern man which indicates they were engaging with a lot of running. The skull of Java man is characterized by thick bone and retreating forehead without chin and protruding brow ridges and massive jaw which hold large canines, which indicate the meat was part of their diet. The cranial capacity of the Java man was smaller than Homo. Erectus.

Ernst Haeckel renamed the Pithecanthropus erectus in 1894.
The origin of the man occurred in central Asia, China, Java and India (Shivalik hill) on the bases of fossil evidence, one of the oldest fossil records of Dryopithecus which evolved into apes and man.

The first ape-man is Australopithecus and discovered by Raymond Dart in 1924 in South Africa. He appeared around 5 million years ago. Some of the fossils were discovered from the Pleistocene epoch. A. Africanus height is 1.5 meters and had human as well as ape characters.

Homo erectus is evolved from homo habilis and appeared around 1.7 million years ago. They are 1.5 to 1.8 meter tall and males are larger than females. Cranial capacity around 800 to 1300 cc.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: Java man was one of the three fossils which are included in Homo erectus, the other two fossils are named as Peking man discovered by W.C. Pei in 1924 and Heidelberg man discovered in 1908 it is the most perfect fossil of jaws.