In 1935, von Koenigswald considered "Gigantopithecus" to be closely allied with the Late Miocene "Sivapithecus" from India. In 1939, South African palaeontologist Robert Broom hypothesised that it was closely allied with "Australopithecus" and the last common ancestor of humans and other apes. In 1946, Jewish German anthropologist Franz Weidenreich described "Gigantopithecus" as a human ancestor as ""Gigantanthropus"", believing that the human lineage went through a gigantic phase. He stated that the teeth are more similar to those of "Homo erectus" (at the time ""Pithecanthropus"") and modern humans, and suggested a lineage from "Gigantopithecus" to the Javan ape (then considered a human ancestor) "Meganthropus" to ""Pithecanthropus"". In 1952, von Koenigswald agreed that "Gigantopithecus" was a hominin, but believed it was an offshoot rather than a human ancestor. Much debate followed whether "Gigantopithecus" was a hominin or not for the next three decades until several early African hominins were discovered, placing humanity's origins in Africa instead of Asia. In 1969, an 8.6 Ma mandible from the Sivalik Hills in northern India was classified as "G. bilaspurensis" because at that time it was believed to have been the ancestor of "Gigantopithecus". This bore resemblance to a molar discovered in 1915 in the Pakistani Pothohar Plateau then classified as "Dryopithecus giganteus". Von Koenigswald reclassified "D. giganteus" in 1950 into its own genus, "Indopithecus", but this was changed again in 1979 to "G. giganteus" by American anthropologists Frederick Szalay and Eric Delson until "Indopithecus" was resurrected in 2003 by Australian anthropologist David W. Cameron. "G. bilaspurensis" is now considered a synonym of "Indopithecus giganteus".