Ancient Humans Sangiran site began in the 1930s when a German anthropologist named Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald found a hominid fossils at Sangiran. The discovery of fossils in the excavations and the study reinforces the theory of human evolution from ape to human to human as it is today. At least five types of fossils of early humans are different. This discovery is very surprising and became a key element in the development of the theory of human evolution. Sangiran a site that contributed nearly 50% of the discovery of prehistoric human fossils in the world.
Not only humans and prehistoric life, also found fossils of sea creatures below, giving rise to the theory that the island of Java lifted from the seabed millions of years ago. Even in the 1980s, scientists at the appalling with the discovery of intact fossil of a mammoth with a height of 4 meters. These fossils are now stored at the Museum of Geology of Bandung. Because the contribution to the world of archeology, anthropology, geology and science are so great, Sangiran UNESCO World Cultural Heritage to 593 on December 5, 1996 in Merida, Mexico. Then Man Archeological Museum was built to store and display the fossils were found.
In museums and sites can be obtained Sangiran detailed information on patterns of early human life in Java, which accounts for the development of science such as Anthropology, Archaeology, Geology, Paleoanthropologi. In this Sangiran site also, for the first time discovered the lower jaw Pithecantropus erectus fossils (one of the species in the taxon Homo erectus) by the German archaeologist, Professor Von Koenigswald. More interestingly, in the area of Sangiran site also traces of the remains were 2 million years to 200,000 years old can still be found until now. Relatively intact as well. So experts can assemble a common thread of a history that has ever happened in Sangiran sequence. Sangiran, has been defined by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. On this site discovered thousands of fossils which accounts for nearly half of all ancient human fossils in the world. To Sangiran, you seemed to be brought back in time thousands of years ago.
Here are some collections that are stored in the Museum Sangiran: (1) Human fossils, such as Australopithecus africanus (replica), Pithecanthropus mojokertensis (Pithecanthropus robustus) (replica), Homo soloensis (replica), Homo Neanderthals of Europe (replica), Homo Neanderthal Asia (replica), and Homo sapiens. (2) Vertebrate fossils, among other namadicus Elephas (elephant), Stegodon trigonocephalus (elephant), Mastodon sp (elephant), palaeokarabau Bubalus (buffalo), Felis palaeojavanica (tiger), Sus sp (pig), sondaicus Rhinoceros (Rhino), Bovidae (cow, bull), and Cervus sp (deer and sheep). (3) Fossils of marine and freshwater animals, among others Crocodillus sp (crocodile), fish and crabs, shark teeth, sp Hippopotamus (hippopotamus), Mollusca (class Pelecypoda and Gastropoda), sp Chelonia (turtles), and foraminifera. (4) Rocks, including chert, Chalcedon, meteorites, and diatoms. (5) Stone artefacts, including flakes and blades, shaved and auger, rectangular axes, stone balls and ax perimbas.
Sangiran site is in the Sangiran Dome region, which is part of the depression Solo, at the foot of Mount Lawu (17 kilometers from the city of Solo). Sangiran Museum and archaeological sites, in addition to being an interesting tourist attraction is also the arena of pre-history research on the life of the most important and comprehensive in Asia, even the world.
