I heard about Sangiran once when I was in high school in a mundane history class. Like the rest of the students (and perhaps Indonesians), I wasn't very impressed by what I got in the class.
I have always been interested in the origin of life. Through personal study, I learned that Sangiran, which is a small village in central Java (15 km from Solo), was one of the key sites for the understanding of human origin because half of the world's hominid fossils were found there.
I have always been interested in the origin of life. Through personal study, I learned that Sangiran, which is a small village in central Java (15 km from Solo), was one of the key sites for the understanding of human origin because half of the world's hominid fossils were found there.
I was so determined to visit Sangiran this time. I followed the road signs from Solo to Sangiran. When I finally reached Sangiran, well, I wasn't sure if I made the right decision to go there as Sangiran is just a typical small Indonesian village that I can find all over Indonesia.
We finally found the museum which was located in the middle of Sangiran village and paid the entrance ticket which was only 50 cents. My first impression was "Where is everybody?" We were the only people at the museum. I have visited almost all museums in Indonesia and I can tell that Sangiran Museum is the best museum so far. Yet no other visitor was there when we visited it.
The museum unusual conic building 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. Every hall is equipped with well-functioning interactive technology.
We were very impressed to see the fossils of early humans, plants, and animals in Java. The visit gave us some answers as well as stimulate us to raise more questions about our existence on Earth.
Before we left the museum, we met the descendant of the local man who helped Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald excavated Pithecanthropus erectus fossil in 1934. He offered us to explore the 56 m2 protected cultural area and to dig fossils ourselves. Too bad we had to go to Madiun on that day. I am sure I am going to return to this place and do a serious study next time.