Expanding Homo erectus

We focus on three researchers-Davidson Black, Franz Weidenreich and Ralph von Koenigswald-who have made major contributions to the recovery of the fossil record of the hominin taxon now known as Homo erectus. Black was responsible for the recognition of Sinanthropus pekinensis and for the recovery of the initial hypodigm from Choukoutien*. Almost all of the original S. pekinensis fossils were lost during the Second World War, but the precise documentation and meticulous descriptions prepared by Franz Weidenreich substantially mitigate their loss. An earlier article in this series focused on Eugène Dubois' recovery of the type specimen of Pithecanthropus erectus from Trinil in Java, and while a few additional specimens from Trinil were recognized, the majority of the Javan hypodigm of P. erectus was recovered thanks to initiatives led or encouraged by Ralph von Koenigswald.