Meganthropus - Scientific Interpretation

Scientific Interpretation

Weidenreich theorized that Meganthropus was a descendant of Gigantopithecus, and gave rise to Pithecanthropus, and then modern Asians. This hypothesis, part of the multi-regional theory of human evolution, has been discarded by mainstream paleoanthropology.

The second major theory, first proposed by J.T. Robinson, was that the Meganthropus finds are representative of a Southeast Asian australopithecine. This position has been adopted by several authorities, such as Koenigswald and Krantz, but they were still regarded as a vocal minority . There was also discussion as to whether they are closer to Australopithecus or Paranthropus.

The majority of paleoanthropologists believe that Meganthropus is related to H. erectus, but it is not agreed upon how closely. Sartono believed that while it is related to H. erectus, the finds represent a new species, H. paleojavanicus. On the other side, several authors believe that they are merely the males of H. erectus, the alleged large size and robusticity being only due to early author's assumption that the females were males . There appears to be a consensus that there are some differences between Meganthropus and conventional H. erectus, but opinion is variable as to what the differences mean.