Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1946-12-19
Say Giants Once
Lived on Earth
Before History
Scientist Finds Bone. in
Java and China Stores;
Had Huge Teeth.

NEW YORK.-The ancestors OF
man date back 500, 900 years to giants
--hulking beetle-browed brutes sub
ject to king-size toothaches-and
mans evolution apparently ran Just
opposite to that Of animals.
This is the story told by the bones
and teeth Of the three earliest known
primitive humans yet discovered, in
a priceless find made by DR.. G. II.
R. Won Koenigswald, renowned
young Dutch paleontologist, who re-
Gently reached this country after
years in the Orient.
The fossils Of these giant men
two from Java and one from China
ARE a half million years old. pos
sibly 200, 600 years older than any
human remains previously found.
The huge teeth of the giants are
the clew, DR.. Won Koenigswald said,
that In evolution man became small
er, rather than growing from small
to larger specimens as modern ami
mails did. The giants had huge jaws
and teeth but small brain capacity.
AS the size Of jaws and teeth de-
creased and brain capacity in
creased, man developed human fac
ulties-particularly those of speech
and ability to make implements
which gave him superiority over
animals.
Size of Gorilla's Jaw.
DR.. Won Koenigswald, prisoner of
war in Java for 30 months, made
his discoveries before the war in
river gravel beds Of central Java
and in Chinese drug stores. The
teeth Of the China giant came from
the drug stores where they were
sold incidentally as dragons
teeth"
Pending further study. DR.. Won
Koenigswald will not hazard guesses
about the exact size or appearance
of the giant men. But, he said, judy
ing from the jawbone, they were
large all over"
The Oldest Java giant, named
Meganthropus, was so large that the
previous oldest-known men, Pithe-
canthropus Erectus, Pekin man and
Heidelberg man, were elegant and
dwarfish in comparison, he said.
Medieval suits Of armor indicate
that modern man is larger than the
knights of centuries ago, but their
smaller size probably was due to
, diet and other conditions, DR.. Won
Koenigswald said. Modern man now
is growing larger due to better diet.
Remains of the giant men and a
treasure of other fossils, hailed as
the worlds outstanding and most
valuable collection of fossil man, re-
Gently arrived at the American Mu-
scum Of Natural History. after being
hidden under the noses of Japanese
in Java during the war.
Fought in World War.
DR.. Won Koenigswald fought in
the Netherlands East Indies army
on Java when the Japanese invaded
it in 1912. and was clapped into a
prisoner Of war camp.
After his release, DR.. Won Koenigs-
valid recovered all the items except
one 100, 000-year-old Neanderthal
skull-which the japanese sent to
Emperor Hirohito as a birthday
present in 1912.
This is DR.. Won Koenigswald' line
up Of the earliest-known men:
Merganthropus, Java giant man,
who lived 100000 years ago. Two
lower Jaws and some teeth, the odd
est human remains and the most
primitive" were discovered in l94l
in an old lake deposit in central
Java near Solo.
/ Pithecanthropus Robustus, man
Of about the same age but of a
slightly higher level. He was found
In the same area in 1899.
Gigantopithecus, the China giant,
also about 500.0 900 years old.
In 1887, DR.. Won Koenigswald dis
covered in Java skull of Pithecan-
thropus Erectus H., which con-
J firmed the belief that this ape man