The Mojokerto child, also known as Mojokerto 1 and Perning 1, is the fossilized
skullcap
Skullcap or skull cap usually refers to various types of headgear. Specifically it may refer to:
Headwear
* Beanie (seamed cap)
* Biretta, forming part of some clerical, academic or legal dress
* Calotte (Belgium), a skullcap worn by students at ...
of a juvenile
early human
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relate ...
. It was discovered in February 1936 near
Mojokerto (
East Java
East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
) by a member of an excavation team led by
Ralph von Koenigswald
Gustav Heinrich Ralph (often cited as G. H. R.) von Koenigswald (13 November 1902 – 10 July 1982) was a German-Dutch paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominins, including ''Homo erectus''. His discoverie ...
. Von Koenigswald first called the specimen ''Pithecanthropus modjokertensis'' but soon renamed it ''Homo modjokertensis'' because
Eugène Duboisthe discoverer of
Java Man
Java Man (''Homo erectus erectus'', formerly also ''Anthropopithecus erectus'', ''Pithecanthropus erectus'') is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Dutch East Indies, now part of Indonesia). Estimated to be ...
, which was then called ''Pithecanthropus erectus''disagreed that the new fossil was a ''Pithecanthropus''. The skullcap is now identified as belonging to the species ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
''.
The Mojokerto child has been the most controversial of the early human fossils that have been found in Indonesia. Its date and even the exact site of its discovery have been widely disputed. First thought to be less than 1.00
Ma (million years old), in 1994 it was claimed, based on
argon–argon dating, which was then a new dating method, that the skull was around 1.81 Ma old. The authors of the paper,
Carl C. Swisher III and
Garniss Curtis
Garniss H. Curtis, (born May 27, 1919 – died December 19, 2012) was a professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley, geochronologist, volcanologist, geophysicist, and founder of the Berkeley Geochronology Center. In 1960, Curtis ...
, argued that this date had wide implications for our understanding of the first human migrations "
Out of Africa". In the early 2000s, however, new archival and scientific research identified the precise layer from which the fossil was excavated in 1936 and showed conclusively that the fossil's earliest possible date was 1.49 Ma.
Discovery and names
![COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Dr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Dr._G.H.R._von_Koenigswald_tijdens_onderzoek_naar_schedels_op_Java_TMnr_10018632.jpg)
The fossilized
skullcap
Skullcap or skull cap usually refers to various types of headgear. Specifically it may refer to:
Headwear
* Beanie (seamed cap)
* Biretta, forming part of some clerical, academic or legal dress
* Calotte (Belgium), a skullcap worn by students at ...
was discovered in February 1936 by Andojo – sometimes referred to as Tjokrohandojo or Andoyo – an Indonesian who worked at excavating animal fossils in the
Kendeng Hills (''Pegunungan Kendeng'') in
East Java
East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...
on a team led by
Ralph von Koenigswald
Gustav Heinrich Ralph (often cited as G. H. R.) von Koenigswald (13 November 1902 – 10 July 1982) was a German-Dutch paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominins, including ''Homo erectus''. His discoverie ...
. Andojo originally believed the skull belonged to an
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...
, but von Koenigswald immediately recognized it as human. He named it ''Pithecanthropus modjokertensis'' after the nearby town of Mojokerto, which was then spelled "Modjokerto".
Eugène Dubois, who had discovered
Java Man
Java Man (''Homo erectus erectus'', formerly also ''Anthropopithecus erectus'', ''Pithecanthropus erectus'') is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Dutch East Indies, now part of Indonesia). Estimated to be ...
in the 1890s and named it ''Pithecanthropus erectus'', wrote to von Koenigswald arguing that if the Mojokerto fossil were indeed human, then it could not be a ''Pithecanthropus'' (lit., an "ape-man"). Von Koenigswald thus renamed his fossil ''Homo modjokertensis''. It was eventually classified as ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'' just like "Java Man" and the numerous
early human
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relate ...
fossils that von Koenigswald and others found in
Sangiran. In Indonesia, the fossil is known as ''Pithecanthropus modjokertensis''.
The fossil's two catalog names "Mojokerto 1" and "Perning 1" come from the town of Mojokerto, which is about southwest of the site, and from the little village of Perning, which is northeast of Mojokerto and south of the site.
Controversial date
For decades, the Mojokerto child, whose gender is unknown, was considered
non-datable, because the exact site where it was found could not be clearly determined. By 1985, four different locations had been proposed as the possible site of discovery. It was also unclear whether the fossil had been
excavated or found on the surface, making dating difficult even if the site itself became certain.
In the early 1990s,
geochronologist
Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves. Absolute geochronology can be accomplished through radioactive isotopes, whereas relative geochronology is pr ...
Garniss Curtis
Garniss H. Curtis, (born May 27, 1919 – died December 19, 2012) was a professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley, geochronologist, volcanologist, geophysicist, and founder of the Berkeley Geochronology Center. In 1960, Curtis ...
and
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Carl C. Swisher III used the
argon–argon dating method to propose a date of 1.81 ± 0.04
Ma for the fossil, that is, 1.81 million years ago, with a margin of error of plus or minus 40,000 years. Their rock sample "
hornblende grains from volcanic
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
that appeared to match the filling of the skull" came from a site shown to them in 1990 by
Teuku Jacob
Teuku Jacob (6 December 1929 – 17 October 2007) was an Indonesian paleoanthropologist. As a student of Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald in the 1950s, Jacob claimed to have discovered and studied numerous specimens of ''Homo erectus''. He c ...
, an Indonesian
paleoanthropologist
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship ...
who had studied under Ralph von Koenigswald. Swisher and Curtis announced their findings in a paper that was published in ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' magazine in 1994.
The fossil's unexpectedly old age was announced in at least 221 newspapers including on the front page of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and prompted cover stories in ''
Discover
Discover may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album
* ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine
Businesses and brands
* DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation''
* Di ...
'', ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...
'', and ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazines. Swisher and Curtis's conclusion was hotly debated, because it meant that the Mojokerto child was as old as the oldest known specimens of African ''
Homo ergaster'' (also called ''Homo erectus sensu lato''), suggesting that ''Homo erectus'' could have
left Africa much earlier than thought, or even evolved in Southeast Asia rather than Africa as most scientists had assumed. Few critics questioned the dating method, but several objected that, considering the uncertainty surrounding the fossil's discovery site, it was unclear whether the rock samples used for dating had been taken from the right location.
In 2003, a paper published by a team led by archeologist
Mike Morwood
Professor Michael John Morwood (27 October 1950 – 23 July 2013) was a New Zealand archaeologist best known for discovering ''Homo floresiensis''. In 2012, he received the '' Rhys Jones Medal'' by the Australian Archaeological Association.
Biogr ...
presented 1.49 ± 0.13 Ma as the latest possible date, based on "
fission-track dating of single
zircon
Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of the r ...
grains". Morwood argued that the rock samples Curtis and Swisher dated came from a
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
bed located below the one above which the Mojokerto skullcap was found. The
geological horizon immediately under the fossil Morwood calls it "Pumice Horizon 5" dates back to 1.49 Ma, whereas the one just above "Pumice Horizon 6" dates from 1.43 ± 0.1 Ma. In 2006, Australian
archeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...
Frank Huffman used pictures and
fieldnotes
Fieldnotes refer to qualitative notes recorded by scientists or researchers in the course of field research, during or after their observation of a specific organism or phenomenon they are studying. The notes are intended to be read as evidence t ...
from the 1930s to identify the exact site of the excavation and confirmed that the fossil was indeed found between the two layers that Morwood had dated. Morwood's and Huffman's conclusions have been widely accepted.
References
Works cited
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Further reading
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{{Prehistoric Asia
1936 archaeological discoveries
1936 in paleontology
Homo erectus fossils
Prehistoric Indonesia
Individual human heads, skulls and brains
Fossils of Indonesia