The question of ‘groups' among Homo erectus population: study on external dental character

Abstract

Java biogeography was impacted by Pleistocene climatic and sea-level changes which could be affecting the dispersals and/or isolation of the hominins in the region. The aim of this study is to characterize the variability of ancient human populations in Java based on dental collections. Material of this study are maxillary and mandibular teeth collection which came from several localities in Sangiran site, Central Java, consisting 44 teeth from 15 mandibles and 35 teeth from 9 maxillae. Approach of this study will be used metric measurement and morphological assessment of the external dental character by ASUDAS parameters. We test a similarity and differentiation by metric and non-metric statistics analysis based on a set of teeth from Premolar and Molar of mandible and maxilla, to observe group clustering among the specimens. The preliminary result shows there are at least three groups of hominins during Pleistocene time. This result suggested there are groups seems to be overlapping and appear chronologically throughout the Lower to the early Middle Pleistocene. Implication of this study will shed light on the history of ancient human occupation in Java during the Pleistocene times.