Identification on two deciduous human molars from Pleistocene layers of Song Terus site, East Java

Abstract

This research tried to answer the question about the taxonomical position of two human teeth from Pleistocene layers of Song Terus site. Specimen of the study are two deciduous teeth, namely; ST06 is upper left first deciduous molar and another tooth ST04 is lower left first deciduous molar. The teeth are almost complete specimen with good conservation condition. They were never studied in detail before, and also because there are only a few deciduous teeth from Sangiran Site and Java Pleistocene collection, so this study is mostly original and very important. Comparative material used in this research are some samples from Homo erectus s.l., Neanderthal, Homo sapiens fossil, Homo sapiens recent, and Pongo. We will use morphological and metrical comparative of external and internal dental character to identify their taxonomical position. The preliminary result shows that ST04 is closed to Homo sapiens and ST06 is located in the Homo erectus sl. group. This result suggests that Homo erectus and Homo sapiens were occupy the same region in Southern Mountain of Java. Implication of this result could be give a new perspective about the history of human occupation in Java during the late Pleistocene.