Sangiran is an

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

site in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. According to a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

report (1995) "Sangiran is recognized by scientists to be one of the most important sites in the world for studying fossil man, ranking alongside Zhoukoudian (China), Willandra Lakes (Australia),

Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropology, paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evo ...

(Tanzania), and

Sterkfontein Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of K ...

(South Africa), and more fruitful in finds than any of these." The area comprises about 56 km² (7 km x 8 km). It is located in

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

, about 15 kilometers north of

Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...

in the Solo River valley. Administratively, Sangiran area is divided between 2 regencies: Sragen (

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

of Gemolong, Kalijambe, and Plupuh) and Karanganyar (district of Gondangrejo). An important feature of the site is the geology of the area. Originally a dome was created millions of years ago through tectonic uplifts. The dome was then eroded exposing beds within the dome which are rich in archeological records.

History

* 1883: The Dutch paleoanthropologist Eugène Dubois undertook preliminary fieldwork at Sangiran. However, Dubois did not find many fossils of interest so he shifted his attention to Trinil in

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

where he found significant discoveries. * 1934: The

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald started to examine the area. During excavations in the next years

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s of some of the first known

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

ancestors, '' Pithecanthropus erectus'' ("Java Man", now reclassified as part of the species ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...

''), were found here. About 60 more human fossils, among them the enigmatic " Meganthropus", have since been found. Sangiran 2, for example, was discovered by von Koenigswald at the site. In addition, there are considerable numbers of remains of the animals that these primitive humans hunted, and of others that merely shared the

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

* 1977: The Indonesian Government designated an area of 56 km2 around Sangiran as a ''Daerah Cagar Budaya'' (Protected Cultural Area). * 1988: A modest local site museum and conservation laboratory were set up at Sangiran. * 1996:

registered Sangiran as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

on the ''World Heritage List'' as th
Sangiran Early Man Site
*2011: The current museum and visitors' centre was opened by the Minister for Education and Culture on 15 December. *2012: President

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to as SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired Indonesian Army, army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014 and the second president of Ind ...

visited the museum in February accompanied by 11 cabinet ministers. Over time, following the initial work by Dubois and von Koenigswald at Sangiran, other scholars including Indonesian archeologists undertook work at the site. Indonesian scholars included Teuku Jacob, Etty Indriati, Sartono, Fachroel Aziz, Harry Widianto, Yahdi Zaim, and Johan Arif.

Sangiran museum

A modest museum existed at Sangiran for several decades before a modern, well-functioning museum and visitors' centre was opened in December 2011. The new building, a modern museum, contains three main halls with extensive displays and impressive dioramas of the Sangiran area as it was believed to be around 1 million years ago. Several other centres are under construction as well (early 2013) so that by 2014 it is expected that there will be four centres at different places within the overall Sangiran site. The four planned centres are: * Krikilan: the existing site with the main visitors centre and museum. * Ngebung: to contain a history of the discovery of the Sangiran site. * Bukuran: to provide information about the discovery of prehistoric human fossils at Sangiran. * Dayu: to present information about the latest research. The current museum and visitors' centre has three main halls. The first hall contains several dioramas that provide information about the early humans and animals which existed at the Sangiran site around 1 million years ago. The second hall, which is more extensive, presents much detailed material about the wide variety of fossils found at Sangiran and about the history of exploration at the site. The third hall, in a separate impressive presentation, contains a large diorama which provides a sweeping view of the overall area of Sangiran, with volcanoes such as Mount Lawu in the background and humans and animals in the foreground, as it is imagined to have been around 1 million years ago. Several of the presentations in this third hall draw on the work of the internationally known paleontological sculptor Elisabeth Daynes.

Access

Access to the Sangiran museum is gained by travelling around 15 km north from Surakarta along the main road towards the central Java town of Purwodadi. The turnoff to the museum, just past the small market town of Kalioso, leads along a sealed road that winds through a relatively poor rural area for around 4 km before reaching the final short entry road to the visitors centre to the right. Total travel time from Surakarta, depending on traffic conditions along the crowded Surakarta-Purwodadi road, is about 45-60 mins. There are frequent buses along the route from Surakarta to Purwodadi which will drop passengers off at the turnoff on request. Local informal motorcycle taxi drivers will ferry visitors along the remaining 4 km for a modest charge. The museum can be reached conveniently by Trans-Java Toll Road. (The museum is open from 8.00am to 4.00pm each day except for Mondays when the museum is closed.)

Social and other issues

Development of the overall Sangiran site has not been without controversy. Uncontrolled digging and illegal trade in fossils have occurred on various occasions since the site was first discovered. For a considerable period, villagers in the area frequently dug up and sold fossils to local buyers. Following the enactment of National Law No. 5 of 1992 on cultural heritage objects, there were stronger controls on these activities. However, illegal activities have sometimes continued to occur in recent years. In 2010, for example, an American citizen claiming to be a scientist was arrested near Sangiran while travelling in a truck containing 43 different types of fossils in boxes and sacks with an estimated market value of $2 million. More recently, there has been discussion in the Indonesian media about the way that the development of the Sangiran site has failed to bring any significant tangible benefits to the rural communities in the local area.Sri Rejeksi, 'Sangiran, Bumi manusia Jawa yang tandus' 'Sangiran, Java's barren homelands'' ''Kompas'', 16 March 2013. Also Sri Rejeksi, 'Tanah Air: Wajah Kontradiktif Sangiran' omeland: The Contradictory Face of Sangiran ''Kompas'', 16 March 2013.

External links

* UNESCO World Heritage Centr
Sangiran Early Man Site
details.

Accommodation information about Sangiran Museum
* An international conference about

' was held in Surakarta (Solo) in September 1998 * A booklet prepared by Dr Etty Indriati from

Gadjah Mada University Gadjah Mada University (; , abbreviated as UGM) is a public research university located in Sleman, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Officially founded on 19 December 1949, Gadjah Mada University is one of the oldest and largest institut ...

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

provides a useful guide to the site in Indonesian. See Etty Indriati, ''Warisan budaya dan munusia purba Indonesia Sangiran'' 'Cultural heritage and ancient Indonesian man Sangiran'' PT Citra Aji Parama, Yogyakarta, 2009. This booklet, along with other notes, may be purchased at the entry to the museum.

References