522 ASIA, EASTERN .\ND CENTRAL
Pithecanthropus erectus. In current usage, this makes it
the type of Homo erectus. There is thus no room for
doubt as to which species the Trinil hominid belongs-
unless you elect, like Wolpoff et al. (1994), to syn-
onymize Homo erectus with Homo sapiens. Argument
centers, instead, on the place of Homo erectus in human
phylogeny; for, although it became conventional
wisdom in the decades following World War I1 to
regard Homo erectus as an Old World-wide species that
was the progenitor of all later hominids, the spec-
tre has recently been raised (e.g., Tattersall, 1997) that
this species was, in fact, a local (and terminal) develop-
ment in eastern Asia. Holloway (2000) gives a cranial
volume of 953 ml.
MORPHOLOGY
Trinil2Culotte. Brow damaged, more so on the R.
Missing all of basicranium and face, lateral aspects of
frontal and parietals, and both temporal bones. Most
of surface of parietals (between temporal lines and
from bregma to lambda) covered with a thin coating of
a substance applied to make molding easier (J. de Vos,
personal communication). Surface of bone in general
very weathered, obscuring morphological detail.
Vault bone extremely thin. In general, this is a
small, gracile calvaria that was very wide but would not
have had much more cranial depth than preserved; face
was probably narrower but deeper s/i than neurocra-
nium. Viewed from front, face (judging from brow)
was not wide. In profile, calotte is long, low, with a
V-shaped occipital and a horizontally protruding,
ledge-like brow that probably did not project farther
than preserved. With the moderately developed frontal
crest as a guide to orientation, brow and inion are in
same plane. Frontal begins to rise well behind brow;
curves strongly upward to bulging bregmatic region,
where profile courses straight back, then descends
steeply along posteriorly projecting, bluntly V-shaped
occipital plane. Nuchal region angled strongly inward
and down. Seen from above, braincase is long and nar-
row, tapering to well-defined postorbital constrictions.
Also from above, brow projects directly forward and is
essentially straight perhaps across from side to side,
with perhaps a hint of a depression in midline; al-
though laterally flaring, brow is not as wide as widest
part of skull, which lies well back (was probably over
mastoid regions). In rear view, vault is roof or tent
shaped, with sides of frontal slightly inwardly tilted,
extending between bulging bregmatic region and de-
pressions just medial to the mound-like temporal lines.
R side tilts out slightly, whereas L side is more vertical;
braincase is very broad, low, with, for the most part, an
essentially flat top; bulging bregmatic region is most
prominent feature in this view.
Brows appear thin s/i, but their state of preservation
prevents definitive determination of thickness. Frontal is
very long a/p, with posteriorly situated coronal suture. A
pair of large frontal sinuses, separated only by an incom-
plete bony septum, straddles the midline and extends
posteriorly only as far as base of frontal rise. Pockets on
either side of these sinuses may be sinuses or artifacts of
damage. Faint temporal lines are most developed (as
seen on R) as they emerge from behind brow. Continu-
ations of temporal lines are detectable thereafter only by
palpation: fairly parallel to one another, they climb gen-
tly up and back (not rising very high), extend posteriorly
behind mastoid regions, then curve down severely.
Swelling of bregmatic region continues down
frontal ca. 3 cm to bisect extremely shallow posttoral
sulcus, and extends only slightly posteriorly along
sagittal suture (“sagittal keel”). Cranial roof on either
side of “keel” and just behind coronal suture is de-
pressed into shallow fossae (emphasizing the bulging
bregmatic region and keel); these fossae are delineated
laterally by faint temporal lines and posteriorly by the
mildly convex surface of the cranial roof. Farther pos-
teriorly, to within a few centimeters of the occipital
angle or “torus,” cranial roof becomes very broad and
flat. “Pockets” in parietals near both supramastoid re-
gions may represent exposed (by weathering) air cells.
Occipital very wide but short s/i. Occipital angle prob-
ably extended fully between supramastoid regions.
Broad, strongly inwardly sloping nuchal plane is “bi-
sected” into two distinct moieties by a large, deep mid-
line depression. External occipital protuberance absent.
Details of cranial sutures not discernible.
Internally, frontal lobes probably extended well
forward over orbital cones. Inner surface of frontal very
“bumpy.” Anterior cranial fossa delineated on the R
by an inwardly curving ridge of bone. Grooves for ante-
rior are and posterior branches of middle meningeal
arteries are very pronounced; instead of typical pattern
of meningeal arborization, there are grooves for thinner
branches collateral to these arteries. Internal to the re-
gion of the midline depression of the nuchal plane,
internal occipital crest (not protuberance) is quite pro-
nounced. Superior sagittal sinus becomes visible behind