A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CLAIMS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF SOUTHEAST-ASIAN AUSTRALOPITHECINES

This study critically analyses claims for the reality of Southeast Asian australopithecines by employing computer intensive, phylogenetic systematic methodology. Five putative "Asian australopithecine" specimens from Sangiran, central Java, Indonesia, are compared cladistically to seven hominid species and the outgroup Pan by several of the discrete character analysis programs available in the PHYLIP computer package. None of the results support the null hypothesis of the existence of extra-African Australopithecus in that the Sangiran hominids are uniformly linked to the H. erectus/H. sapiens clade in all of the most parsimonious trees that were produced. It is concluded that the morphology and chronological placement of the Sangiran hominids are best accommodated by assignment to the spatiotemporally diverse, extinct hominid species of Homo erectus. © 1994 Academic Press. All rights reserved.