EUGENE DUBOIS AND THE APE-MAN FROM JAVA

EUGENE DUBOIS AND THE APE-MAN FROM JAVA

BERT THEUNISSEN Institute for the History of Science University of Utrecht, The Netherlands Eugene Dubois and the Ape-Man from Java The History of the First 'Missing Link' and Its Discoverer Kluwer Academic Publishers DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Theun1ssen, Bert, 1955- Eugene Dubois and the ape-man from Java: the h1story of the first missing link and Its discoverer I Bert Theun1ssen. p. CIII. Or1g1nally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. 0.--1985) under the title: Eugene Dubois en de aapmens van Java. B1bl1ography: p. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7491-9 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-2209-9 I. P1thecanthropus erectus. 3. Anthropology, Prehlstor1c. 1. Title. e-isbn-13: 978-94-009-2209-9 2. Dubo1s. Eugene, 1858-1940. 4. Foss11 man--indonesla--java. GN284.6.T48 1988 573.3--dcI9 86-19223 CIP First published as Eugene Dubois en de aapmens van Java by Rodopi, Amsterdam, 1985. Translated from Dutch by Enid Perlin-West. Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates the publishing programmes of D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 332, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. All Rights Reserved 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1989 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any inrormation storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owners.

For Inge Nicolette

CONTENTS FOREWORD BY RICHARD E. LEAKEY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY BACKGROUND The theory of evolution and the position of Man The interpretation of human fossils The role of palaeontology and anthropology CHAPTER 2: THE ROAD TO TRINIL Eijsden and Roermond Amsterdam To the Dutch East Indies Sumatra Java CHAPTER 3: PITHECANTHROPUS ERECTUS The discovery The description The construction of a missing link IX xi 1 4 8 12 22 24 27 37 43 53 61 67 CHAPTER 4: THE DEBATE Introduction 79 Criticism 80 Dubois' reply 89 Rejoinder 98 From Pithecanthropus to an evolutionary palaeoanthropology 108 Epilogue 117

VIII CHAPTER 5: CEPHALISATION, PITHECANTHROPUS, AND EVOLUTION Introduction The theory of cephalisation Cephalisation and Pithecanthropus Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus Idealist and pioneer SOURCES Manuscript sources Publications by Dubois Literature List of illustrations INDEX 128 129 146 155 164 182 182 190 207 209

FOREWORD Although the name Pithecanthropus is now seldom used, there are few who study the origin of our species who will fail to recognise the historical place of the usage and its association with Eugene Dubois. During the last thirty or forty years, Australopithecus and its African context has tended to draw attention from the early work on our origins in Java. It is now increasingly common to hear the term 'pithecanthropine' used only to indicate the Asian or Far Eastern examples of Homo erectus which, although probably derived from African ancestry, have some features that in the opinion of some experts may justify their being considered distinctive. This discussion is not within the pages that follow which deal extensively with the work of Eugene Dubois. He was an extraordinary man who did as much as any person since to put the great antiquity of our ancestors firmly in the public domain. Dubois became involved with the study of human origins from a medical and anatomical background as have many since. The jealousies and professional pressures that we think of as a phenomenon of the post-war years were clearly a major factor in deciding the future of his career. I found it fascinating to read of incidents which happened almost one hundred years ago that, except for the personalities, could well be a description of events taking place presently! Similarly, the professional and lay responses to some of his early work remind me of responses today following the announcement and publication of new discoveries and ideas. I feel better for knowing that one of the great pioneers in the field experienced the same difficulties that persist to the present but by the same token, I am saddened that so little has changed in spite of the great wealth of data that is now before us. This book is a valuable contribution. It brings out a wealth of background and detail that has never before been presented in English and it will be a useful source for many scholars seeking to undertake the early work that was done in the Far East on human origins. The debate on Asia's role in the evolution of our species continues to be present and will probably be an open subject for some years yet. It is interesting to speculate on where Dubois would have stood in the presence of the well preserved early African Homo erectus material. The historical account of Eugene Dubois and the ape-man from Java makes such speculation entirely justified although I think his

x position would have been different depending upon the timing. This too might well be the same for many of us today but there is much to be learned from the fascinating account of the life and work of Eugene Dubois. Richard Leakey

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have benefitted from the help and advice of many people while writing this book and an earlier, Dutch version of it which served as my PhD dissertation. I wish to express my gratitude to all of them. Here I shall only mention those who have assisted me in producing this English version. Professor H.J.M. Bos, Professor c.a.w. Korenhof, Dr. G.N. van Vark and Dr. J. de Vos read and commented upon (parts of) the manuscript; I thank them for saving me from several blunders. Mrs. Enid Perlin-West translated the Dutch text; I greatly enjoyed our 'samenwerking'. Anneke Schoonhoven enabled me to see what I had written by typing and retyping the text. The help of Lian Hielkema in proofreading has been invaluable. Finally, the financial support, in the form of a translation grant, of the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is gratefully acknowledged.