Fossil remains of Homo erectus, an extinct species of early humans, were first discovered in 1891 by the Dutch physician Eugene Dubois near the village of Trinil, along the Solo River, on the island of Java, Indonesia. Dubois's finds, a partial skull and a thigh-bone, contrasted remarkably. The skull-cap, significantly smaller and lower in height than those of modern humans, had a large projecting brow ridge and a sloping forehead. The inside of the skull had a brain volume about half that of modern humans. The thigh-bone, on the other hand, was identical to that of a modern human, demonstrating that this creature had walked bipedally, like living people. Dubois believed he had discovered the long sought-after "missing link" between the apes and humans, and he thus named his finds Pithecanthropus erectus, which means "erect-postured ape-man."
