Ancient settlement where humanity’s ancestors made their last stand before extinction discovered

Professor Russell Ciochon in his lab with a cast of a Homo erectus skull (Picture: Tim Schoon, 

University of Iowa (Source: Tim Schoon, University of Iowa) A hardy band of human ancestors made a last stand on Java about 110,000 years ago, scientists have discovered. 

Homo erectus, the first species to walk fully upright, survived 300,000 years longer than previously thought until being wiped out by an ‘ecological disaster.’ 

Its last known settlement has been unearthed on the Solo River, just outside the village of Ngangdong in the centre of the idyllic Indonesian island. 

The groundbreaking discovery also confirms that Homo erectus was the most long-lived human species – thriving for at least nearly two million years. 

Modern humans emerged just a quarter of a million years ago. 

Professor Russell Ciochon of the University of Iowa said: ‘This site is the last known appearance of Homo erectus found anywhere in the world.

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