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Java Man. Skull cap of the Trinil 2 hominid fossil Pithecanthropus erectus, meaning erect ape-man, later renamed Homo erectus, found in 1894 during excavations lead by Eugene Dubois (1858-1940). This specimen is popularly known as Java man. It was found, along with a complete femur (thighbone) in sedimentary deposits at a bend of the Solo river in Trinil, Java, Indonesia. Homo erectus is the most widespread and longest-surviving of all the fossil hominids. Its geographical spread included north and east Africa, Europe, Indonesia and China. It survived from approximately 1.6 million years ago (east Africa) to 300,000 (China). (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/JOHN READER)