The fauna from Trinil, type locality of Homo erectus; a reinterpretation

Abstract

A reinvestigation of the Pleistocene mammals of Java from the Dubois collection at Leiden sheds new light on the relative age of the Homo erectus localities. The fauna of the type locality of Homo erectus Trinil is older in age than the 'Jetis fauna' of von Koeningsswald, 1934. The latter is similar to the fauna of Kedung Brubus. The Trinil fauna is poor in species with many endemics, which points to little or no faunal exchange with the Asian mainland; it cannot be excluded that during the Pleistocene Trinil was situated on an island. The Kedung Brubus and Jetis faunas are characterized by the presence of new Asiatic elements absent in Trinil. The fauna from the same level as the type locality of Homo modjokertensis is of the Kedung Brubus type and there are no arguments to suppose that this Homo modjokertensis antedates Homo erectus from Trinil.