Java Man : How Two Geologists' Dramatic Discoveries Changed Our Understanding of the Evolutionary Path to Modern Humans [Hardcover]

Roger Lewin (Author), Garniss H. Curtis (Author), Carl Swisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2000

With their revolutionary discovery about human origins, a pair of maverick geologists single-handedly shook the foundations of science and philosophy. Here, for the first time, is the inside story.

For much of the twentieth century, anthropologists believed in a simple, linear picture of evolution: the human family was born in Africa and remained there until Homo erectus, a relatively advanced form of human, migrated into eastern Asia about one million years ago. All later humans, these anthropologists thought, developed through a steady modernization process from Homo erectus. But when Garniss Curtis and Carl Swisher of the Berkeley Geochronology Center applied advanced potassium/argon dating techniques to previously studied -- and incorrectly dated -- fossils in Indonesia, their findings shocked the anthropological community and drastically altered our current view of human evolution.

With lucid prose and infectious enthusiasm for the subject, the authors take us on a journey to the Indonesian island of Java, where Curtis and Swisher made two important discoveries: first, that human ancestors left the Cradle of Mankind -- the African continent -- and migrated east almost two million years ago, much earlier than anthropologists had believed, and second, that Homo erectus might have survived until as late as 27,000 years ago, suggesting that Homo erectus actually coexisted with Homo sapiens and was probably not an evolutionary precursor. Their findings not only destroy the straight line of human evolution, but also call into question the inevitability of the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Eventually, politics and a lack of funding find their way into the story, providing a realistic, if unfortunate, look at the travails that accompany scientific discovery. Swisher's and Curtis's findings are often met with skepticism, and their scientific methods are called into question. But conviction and determination lead them to conclusions that not only redefine their field but raise philosophical questions about what it means to be human.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you think nature is red in tooth and claw, you've never seen paleoanthropologists. Never has so much fuss been made by so many over so little actual evidence. Unlike most scientific controversies, however, those in paleoanthropology involve seriously emotional issues: nothing less than the origin and nature of humanity.

One of the most fervent controversies in human origins has been over whether human evolution occurred only in Africa (the "Out of Africa" hypothesis), or whether humans evolved on different continents concurrently (the "Multiregional" hypothesis). The bones known as "Java Man" are key for deciding between these theories, and the most important unknowns about them are their dates. Geochronologists Carl Swisher and Garniss Curtis produced the first good dates for fossil humans from Java and set the paleoanthropological community on its collective ear--some of the fossils are much older than anyone thought, others are much younger. In this book they tell their story with the aid of Roger Lewin, a widely respected science journalist and the author of Bones of Contention.

Historians of academic infighting will find Java Man a treasure trove. Rarely has the mask of science been peeled back so completely, to reveal a seething mass of egos, mistakes, lawsuits, and crude hand gestures, boiling around some real, basic questions in human evolution. It's not yet particularly conclusive, but it is certainly not dull. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

What is the potential fallout when two "journeymen geochronologists" venture into "the world of paleoanthropology?" As Curtis and Swisher found out, "of all the disciplines in science, paleoanthropology boasts perhaps the largest share of egos, often engaged in intemperate defense of cherished hypotheses," and that's where their storyAmade exceptionally engaging by the talents of veteran science writer Lewin (Bones of Contention, etc.)Abegins. In fact, their tale comprises three stories. The first recounts Curtis and Swisher's attempts to date precisely a Homo erectus skull found in Java, that of the Mojokerto child, and later, an unsurpassed find of 12 skulls, known collectively as Solo Man. The second details the stunning and widely reported implications of their results, including a March 1994 cover story in Time. By showing that the Mojokerto child fossil was 1.8 million years old, Curtis and Swisher proved that our ancestors left Africa nearly a million years earlier than anyone had suspected. Their dates for Solo Man are even more remarkable, indicating that Homo erectus was not a precursor to Homo sapiens but a separate species that, like the Neanderthals, had coexisted with us as recently as 27,000 years ago. Through these two stories is woven the unfortunate but captivating third: that of the back-biting and public sniping, professional jealousy and petty turf battles endemic to any scientific endeavor. The real value of this book is its retelling of our evolutionary history, one that is engrossing and carefully laid out and that will provide to a wide range of general readers as well as anthropology buffs a new sense of wonder about the past. B&w illus.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st edition (November 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684800004
• ISBN-13: 978-0684800004
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Java Man, and the battle at the Institute for Human Origins, September 4, 2001

By 

Anthony M. Frasca (East Setauket, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java Man : How Two Geologists' Dramatic Discoveries Changed Our Understanding of the Evolutionary Path to Modern Humans (Hardcover)

The book "Java Man" is a very interesting story about the dating of the fossil skull found on the island of Java in 1892. The "Homo Erectus" fossil was discovered by the Dutch scientist Eugene Dubois. The early chapters are a short chroncile of the discovery made by Dubois and the subsequent scientific debate created by the discovery of the fossil that was, at the time, touted as the "missing link". The fossil is now known to be a "Homo erectus" child. The book goes on to describe modern geochronology techniques and the farcical attempts by the scientists to obtain some material from the skull for dating. They manage to obtain a very small sample from the mysterious, ethereal professor Jacob on the equally backward and primitive island of Java. The dating of the fossil causes a stir in the cut throat world of paleoanthropology. The story is gobbled up and disseminated by a hungry press. What follows is a polarized account of the geochronologists battle with their patrons at the Institute for Human Origins, founded by the brilliant scientist Donald Johanson, discoverer of the "Lucy" fossil. The "divorce" of the geochronologists from the Institute of Human Origins is laundered with a number of parting shots at Donald Johanson. The latter part of the book is devoted to evaluating current hypotheses about ancient man, the evolution of bipedalism and the evidence for the development of tools and language by our ancestors. Included in this section is the current debate about the spread of man throughout the ancient world, leading to the current, overpopulated state of "Homo Sapiens". The "single-species" versus the "multi-regional" hypotheses are covered in depth, with the scientists clearly favoring the "single-species" hypothesis. The book concludes with the publication of the scientific paper titled, "Latest "Homo Erectus" of Java: Potential Contemporaneity with "Homo Sapiens" in Southeast Asia." The paper buries the "multi-regional" hypothesis and causes a paradigm shift in the world of paleoanthropology.
The book is, at times, needlessly verbose. The story, though interesting, could be told in half the number of pages. The "divorce" from the Institute of Human Origins should have been completely eliminated. I find it tedious that scientists are continually waging their battles with other scientists in print.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wanna date me?, October 21, 2004

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Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java Man: How Two Geologists Changed Our Understanding of Human Evolution (Paperback)

In studies of human evolution, dating fossil finds is of paramount importance. Since the fossil bones themselves carry no signature indicating their age, the placement in time must be done by inference. The clues lie in the rocks surrounding the teeth, jaws or skulls unearthed. Ever since Raymond Dart's finding of the Taung Child in 1924, the mysteries surrounding human evolution have been painstakingly revealed. Dart's discovery, which should have confirmed Darwin's predictions of African origins for humanity, had already been usurped a generation before. Dutch army surgeon, Eugene Dubois, had already found fossils in Java. The discovery confirmed what many believed, that human origins were in Asia rather than the Dark Continent. This new collaboration examines the evidence while making a detailed analysis of the controversy that emerged over our evolutionary track in Asia and Africa.

Lewin's hand in this narrative is readily apparent. He's done many books on anthropology, each one as a close collaboration with the actual researchers. He evokes the human side of each trip to fossil sites - storm-tossed aircraft, jungle road trips, the frustration of pinpointing older finds, the clash of personalities. In this case, a fossil unearthed along a riverside seemed to evade identity. The failure of precise location means the dismissal of dating practices. Lewin and his team spend much time going over the ways a site is dated and what it meant for another Child, this one known as Mojokerto.

Amidst the complications of pinpointing sites, verifying dates and the immense burden of funding multi-national investigations, we are suddenly transported into a maelstrom of professional acrimony. Curtiss and Swisher's team had been forced into an uneasy association with Don Johanson's [he of "Lucy" fame] Institute of Human Origins in Berkeley, California. A private establishment, very loosely tied to the University, contributions to keep it running were, as always, the subject of priority discussions. The story Lewin relates is reminiscent of theological disputes, with backstabbing, character assassination and explosive temperaments. While the casual observer would assume the players in this scenario would be working in the same cause, small events exploded into destructive schisms. Lewin's writing is Swisher's voice, yet the hurt feelings are vividly related. You are almost sitting at the table witnessing the vituperation.

Yet another fossil, with yet another dating crisis, brought what should be the resolution of yet another dispute. For many years the idea of human "origins" in Asia persisted, although in different guise. Dubois 1892 artefacts ultimately fit into a species later termed Homo erectus, an early precursor of ourselves. A school of anthropologists, led by Milford Wolpoff, has argued that H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens in parallel tracks in Africa, Asia, and perhaps elsewhere. Known as "multiregionalism", it is one way of explaining human "races". Lewin continues to follow the two researchers as they pursue the dating of an H. erectus specimen that proved only 50 thousand years old. There's not enough time to produce our species from one so recent.

Lewin and his associates have produced a fine overview of a contentious and difficult area. Lewin's writing skills keep the narrative lively and readable. He's to be commended for his clear presentation and full detachment in the account. A collection of old and recent photographs, plus some explanatory graphics adds visual enhancement. The historical background is ably woven into the science, providing meaningful background. A book that provides an intimate view of the life of anthropology. stephen a. haines (...)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Book, August 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Java Man : How Two Geologists' Dramatic Discoveries Changed Our Understanding of the Evolutionary Path to Modern Humans (Hardcover)

This is an interesting story about anthropology and geochronology. I don't know much about the subject, but I am very enthusiastic. I am very attracted by this popular book.