A restoration of the skull of “Pithecanthropus” erectus by Manonvrier.

“Pithecanthropus” erectus, described by the Dutch anatomist Eugene Dubois, was an immediate sensation. Known from a skullcap, a femur, and a tooth discovered on the island of Java, it was the first fossil that could be regarded as an “intermediate type” between humans and apes (even if there was some debate about whether all the parts Dubois had found really went together). In later years “Java Man” would become more popularly represented by sculpted busts of our prehistoric relative, but one of the earliest full restorations was presented in 1900 at the Paris Universal Exposition.

Part of the festivities included a meeting of the Congress of Archaeology and