Ancient Human Fossils In The Sangiran

Sangiran emerged as one of most important archaeological site in the world from the publication of the finding of a German archaeologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald. He came after having some information on the existence of big bones emerged from its soil.

Prior to his visit, Eugene Dubois, a Dutch anatomist, found a complete skeleton fossil of Pithecanthropus erectus, famous as Java Man in Trinil back in 1893. The fact that Trinil has similar topographical qualities and interconnected to Sangiran by Bengawan Solo river were a good indication he hardly ignored.

During initial exploration in 1934, Ralph von Koenigswald was succeeded in finding another Pithecanthropus erectus, the fossil similar to one found by Dubois. It was not too long after that he discovered Meganthropus palaeojavanicus.

Further research revealed that Pithecanthropus erectus and Meganthropus palaeojavanicus was living in the area between 2 million to 5 hundred thousand years ago. Koenigswald discovered fossil of more than 50 different species other than human’s, including vertebrate animals, fish, plants,as well as prehistoric tools made of stone and bones.


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Until 1941, the number of fossil found in Sangiran is 13.809. The number is still growing, yet it is the world’s largest amount of fossil found in one place. For this, Sangiran was announced a Cultural Heritage Site in 1977 and added into the list of World Heritage Site under UNESCO’s protection in 1996 as Sangiran Early Man Site.

Besides an important archaeological site, Sangiran is a perfect place for an edutaintment center. In 1983, a buildings function as archaeological museum were built. Named as Sangiran Archaeological Museum, the building is situated on Krikilan village of Kalijambe subdistrict, Sragen Regency, some 3 km from the main road connecting Solo and Semarang.

This museum is occupying an area of 16.675 square meter. The building with traditional Javanese architecture is divided into 3 parts, they are the primary exhibition room, archaeological laboratory, and storage room. An additional showroom and an audio visual room was built in 1998 and 2004 respectively.

From total 13.809 fossils found in Sangiran, there are only 2.934 fossils displayed in the museum. The rest of them are on the museum’s storage room. Other collectons of Pithecanthropus erectus and Meganthropus palaeojavanicus fossils from Sangiran is displayed in Geological Museum in Bandung and Paleo-anthropological Laboratory in Yogyakarta.

Sangiran Anthropological Museum opens for all activities related to archaeological education and tourism. Visitor can see dioramas depicting the lives of prehistoric human. Fossils found in pieces are put in glass box container called vitrines.

For further development as an educational recreation object, Sangiran Archaeological Museum is now equipped with facilities such as tower, homestays, playground and park, and Mini Car. Mini Car is a vehicle available with a driver and a guide for taking the guests visiting excavation sites.