New study identifies last known occurrence of Homo Erectus (photo)

The fossils include 12 skull caps and 2 lower leg bones

Scientists have identified the last known occurrence of Homo erectus–in Central Java, Indonesia between 117,000 and 108,000 years ago. An ancient ancestor of modern humans that lived in the Pleistocene era, Homo erectus first appeared approximately 2 million years ago.

An international team of researchers including the University of Alberta’s John-Paul Zonneveld applied modern dating technology to a group of fossils originally found in the 1930s. The fossils include 12 skull caps and 2 lower leg bones found in a bone bed 20 meters above the Solo River at Ngandong, Central Java, Indonesia.

Read more: archaeology news network