A comprehensive re-investigation on the chronology of the Javanese fossil hominids

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The present research was designed to reconsider the antiquity of the Javanese hominid fossils and to develop a chronological framework for the evolutionary histories of Homo erectus in Jawa, and the following investigations have been made.1.Series of sediment samples for dating have been collected with checking their stratigraphic positions from hominid fossil bearing formatins in Central and East Jawa.2.Petrographic analyses and pilot dating using argon-40/argon-39 and fission-track methods on the tephra samples, have shown that some tephras are practical for chronometric dating, but a large number of tephra layers may not feasible for dating due to detrital mineral contaminants.3.The properties of diallyl phthalate (DAP) resin were studied with reference to its use as an external detector in fission-track dating. And also zeta calibration values for fission-track dating with this more useful plastic detector have been reported.4.A paleomagnetic study was carried out on hominid fossil bearing sediments in Central and East Jawa, which has given new data for the Sangiran area and additional data supporting the previous results on Mojokerto, and also preliminary data for Sambungmacan.5.Stratigraphic allocation of some hominid fossils from Jawa without sufficient context for provenance has been assisted by using a new geochemical approach by multielement analyses of bone using inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, in company with the fluorine assay.