WAJAK (Wadjak)
LOCATION
Cave deposit (Site 3), still partly intact (see Aziz and
de Vos, 1989), in limestone cliff some 2 km SW of
Tjampurdarat, near Tulungagung, east Java, Indonesia.
DISCOVERY
B. D. van Rietschoten, 1888 (Wajak l), E. Dubois
and co-workers, 1889 and 1890 (Wajak 2).
MATERIAL
Fairly complete adult cranium (Wajak 1); fragments
of a second skull (Wajak 2); some isolated teeth.
DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The Wajak specimens were judged by Dubois (1920)
to derive from the late Upper Pleistocene or the earli-
est Holocene. Subsequent assessments have tended
toward the younger age, and Storm (1995) favors a
“Mesolithic” age of 10 Ka or less. In contrast to earlier
accounts, Aziz and de Vos (1989) report the persis-
tence of enough cave fill to make it possible to re-
examine the stratigraphy of the site.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
None.
PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
The Wajak skulls are principally of historical signifi-
cance, although Dubois (1920, 1922) considered them
sufficiently distinctive to assign them to their own
species, Homo wadjakensis. PinMey (1936) rejected the
new species, placing the specimens firmly in Homo
sapiens, where they have since remained. Dubois’
assessment of these fossils as “proto-Australoid” seems
to have been quite influential; indeed, it seems to have
played a significant role in the formulation of Weiden-
reich‘s “polyphyletic” hypothesis. However, in a de-
tailed recent review of these specimens and associated
fauna, Storm has rejected the notion of Wajak as an
Australian ancestor and sees the hominids instead as
“Mesolithic robust relatives of the present inhabitants
of Java.” (Storm, 1995: 1). Day (1965) quotes a cranial
capacity for Wajak 1 of 1,550 ml.MORPHOLOGY
Wajak 1 (RMNH W-H-24)
Large skull; weathered, crushed, and somewhat dis-
torted, with frontal bone pushed down a bit, dis-
placing parietals laterally; large areas of reconstruc-
tion. For its size, seems unusually gracile. Much
detail obscured. RP1-M1 and R and LM2 and 3
preserved; RMl worn; RP1, M2, and LM3
damaged.
Face generally broad and not tall s/i; lower face
flat. Frontal eminences low; parietal eminences mod-
erately swollen. From side, skull relatively long; it ap-
pears rounded posteriorly, but midregion of occiput is526