In the broad sense, Homo erectus refers to the human species intermediate between Homo Habilis and modern humans. Most modern anthropologists divide these humans into at least three species: Homo ergaster, the African "erectus" species that evolved from H. habilis and was the ancestor of the other "erectus" species, as well as of modern humans; Homo HeiDelbergensis, the "erectus" humans that migrated to Europe and evolved into Neandertals; and the Asian "erectus" humans, including Java man and Peking man, which retain the original name H. erectus.

Not long after H. ergaster evolved in Africa, some of its populations began to migrate northward and eastward. Before a million years ago, H. erectus individuals were probably living in caves in what is now China, as well as on islands in what is now Indonesia. Specimens from the Chinese populations (Peking man) are known from 670,000 to 410,000 years ago. Specimens from the Indonesian populations (Java man) that are 1.8 million years old are known, and Java man may have persisted until as recently as 50,000 years ago. On Flores Island, a population of H. erectus apparently evolved into a species of miniature humans, H. floresiensis, who survived until perhaps 18,000 years ago. None of these populations, Peking man, Java man, or the Flores Island people, evolved into modern humans.

Java man was the first human fossil to be found outside of Europe, and the first fossil that could clearly be interpreted as being more primitive than modern humans. A Dutch physician Eugene Dubois found a skullcap in Trinil, Indonesia, in 1891, and a thighbone in 1892. Dubois at first called this species Anthropopithecus, the man-ape, then changed it to Pithecanthropus erectus, using the name of a hypothetical human ancestor that had been proposed by a leading German evolutionary scientist Ernst Haeckel. In the early 20th century, anthropologist Davidson Black excavated fossils from Dragon Bone Hill in China. For many years, local people had gathered the bones (which they called dragon bones) and ground them as medicine. Black found enough bones to reconstruct a species intermediate between apes and humans, which he called Peking man (Sinanthropus pekinensis). When World War II started, Europeans evacuated from China ahead of Japanese troops. American Marines were taking the Peking man bones when they were arrested by Japanese soldiers, who may have discarded the bones. Black and anthropologist Franz Weidenreich had made casts of the bones, which have survived. Early in the 20th century, anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald found bones of Solo man, near the Solo River in Indonesia. He offered 10 cents per bone fragment to local excavators to bring him specimens, only to find that the excavators shattered the bones that they found in order to get more money. Java, Peking, and Solo man are now all considered to be populations of H. erectus. . .

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