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Sangiran Museum Memory of Three Evolutions
Bukuran Cluster - Syefri Luwis
Sangiran Museum
Memory of Three Evolutions
What moves us to look at the museum again? Previously, we think that just because it is the duty that makes people want to visit the museum again, especially if it is located far away in the corner of the village or even in the tableland. One example is the Sangiran Early Human Museum, which is located about 17 kilometers north of Surakarta
Central Java. What is the reason that makes us want to visit the Sangiran Early Human Museum? Try visiting Sangiran. The museum is just a storage building to store valuable collections, but it becomes part of the site of early humans, the birthplace of Javanese humans, who still continue to reveal animal fossils, artifacts, and even
humans as the soil layers are exposed during erosion or human activities. It is at this location that one of the centers of
human evolution of the world has been
telling the long story of humanity since 1.5 million years ago. Sangiran site is the early human site from the pleistocene epoch (2.5 million to 11,500 years ago) which is the most complete and important in Indonesia, or even Asia, since it was discovered by G.H.R von Koenigswald through the discovery of the concentration of flake tools in Ngebung Village in 1934, as written by Harry Widianto and Truman Simanjuntak in the book Sangiran Menjawab Dunia (2011). With an overall area of 59.21 square kilometers in two
districts namely Sragen and Karanganyar, the museum and Sangiran site are not enough to be explored in just a few hours.
In reality, not only does Sangiran give an idea of the physical evolution of humans and animals, but it is also able to provide an overview of the evolution of culture
and environment. The oldest
early humans were found at the top of the black clay of Pucangan Formation with an antiquity of more than a million year, with a very stocky body. The oldest human tools were also found
in the Pucangan Formation, in an ancient river sediment that flowed between swamps 1.2 million years ago. At that time, Sangiran was still a swamp. The environmental change from swamp to permanent land occurred 0.9 million
years ago.
Reading the early human history while looking directly at the location is certainly exciting. In addition to the site’s appeal, another thing that attracts wider visitors’ attention is the variety of programs: it can be festivals, exhibitions, workshops, performances, or competitions. The last large enough program is SangiRun Night Trail 2021 or night running race for celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Sangiran Site as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO (see its report in Indonesiana Volume 12).
Head of BPSMP Sangiran, Iskandar Mulia Siregar, S.T., said that his institution is currently offering a virtual tour program - virtual museum - to the public. Since 2017, the Krikilan Cluster has not only been satisfied with the reconstruction of
sangiran’s early human body but has also penetrated into the world of augmented reality. Let’s walk through Sangiran, starting from Krikilan Cluster, Ngebung Cluster, Bukuran Cluster, and Dayu Cluster.
Understanding evolution - Syefri Luwis
Krikilan Cluster
The first location of the museum is
located in Krikilan Village, Kalijambe, Sragen, which is the information center of early human life in Indonesia and is an umbrella of other clusters as well
as a meeting point for information of other early human sites namely Trinil, Kedungbrubus, Ngandong, Sambungmacan, Mojokerto, Ngawi, Patiayam, Semedo, and Bringin.
The Krikilan Cluster exhibition hall
displays a variety of fossils which is
Letters from Wallace - Syefri Luwis
million years old and it is neatly arranged complete with the description of the artifact. To make visitors comfortable,
the museum, that is deliberately made as a reconstruction of the past, has been developed into a site of conservation that allows it to be side by side with villages in an integrated manner
The Sragen Tourism Office, which is the manager, designs the museum as a fossilbased site which means the collection will continue to grow in line with the discovery of fossils by members of the surrounding community. The museum has other facilities such as laboratories,
The fragmented fossil of Mastodon skull - Syefri Luwis
fossil warehouses, and rooms for playing the films. In addition, there are also
neatly lined stalls that sell various trinkets from rocks, clothes, hats, and food.
The Krikilan cluster contains collections of
human fossils including Australopithecus Africanus, Pithecanthropus Mojokertensis (Pithecanthropus Robustus), Meganthropus Palaeojavanicus, Pithecanthropus Erectus, Homo Soloensis, Homo Neanderthal Eropa, Homo Neanderthal Asia, and Homo Sapiens. Stone tools such as flake, bilan, plane, auger, square axe, stone ball, and Chopper are also presented in the exhibition hall.
The cluster that was inaugurated in 2011 also stores a collection of
fossils of vertebrate animals such as Elephas namadicus (elephant), Stegodon trigonocephalus (elephant), Mastodon sp (elephant), Bubalus palaeokarabau (buffalo), Felis palaeojavanica (tiger), Sus sp (pig), Rhinocerus sondaicus (rhinoceros), Bovidae (cow, bull), and Cervus sp (deer and sheep). through the exhibited rocks, such as meteorite or tektite, chalcedony, diatomite, agate, and amethyst.
Bukuran Cluster
Bukuran Cluster is built
Fossils of aquatic animals are a sign that the Sangiran region was once part of the ocean. No wonder that crocodilus sp (crocodiles), fish and crabs, shark teeth, Hippopotamus sp (hippopotamus), Mollusa (Pelecypod and Gastropod class), Chelonia sp (turtle), and foraminifera are stored there. In this museum, there are also memories of the formation
of the earth that can be read around 27 kilometers from
Sragen City. When entering the main exhibition hall of
Sangiran – Syefri Luwis
The current show-off style - Syefri Luwis The long history of mankind is here - Syefri Luwis
Sangiran – Syefri Luwis
the Bukuran museum,
visitors are invited to see the track record of human evolution.
Visitors are invited to travel and enjoy the reconstruction of three
types of Homo erectus that marked three
Panel of sites where humans’ levels of evolution,
early tools and relics were found – Syefri Luwis namely Homo erectus archaic (1.5 million to 1 million years ago), Homo erectus tipik (0.9 million to 0.3 million years ago), and Homo erectus progresif (200,000 to 100,000 years ago). Adding richness to the collection of this
cluster, downstairs are displayed replicas of early human fossils that have been found
around the world.
The boat from the pas – Syefri Luwis
Ngebung Cluster
A large diorama depicting an excavation process welcomes the visitors. The exhibition hall in the museum in this Ngebung village, Kalijambe District, Sragen Regency contains the early history of G.H.R. Koenigswald’s research with W.F Tweedie who found several flake tools
related to fossils of vertebrate fauna with
characteristics of fauna Trinil and Mid-
Pleistocene Epoch. “These are flake tools, early human culture. Here, someday, will be found fossils of early humans such as in Trinil and Ngandong,” Koenigswald said, as quoted by Harry Widianto and Truman Simanjuntak in Sangiran Menjawab Dunia (2011). The prediction is
proven.
Another exhibition hall, that is no less interesting, presents scientific conversations between Teuku Jacob, Raden Panji Sudjono, and Sartono Sastromidjojo. The bones of early elephants or stegodon are also exhibited here. The ancestors of elephants during this historical period are said to have lived five million to ten thousand years
ago.
Dayu Cluster
This cluster is developed as a cottage of information about the results of
recent research, the discovery of the oldest flake tools in Sangiran and even Indonesia which originated from early river deposits that flowed between swamp environments 1.2 million years ago. Discovery after discovery since 2002 have continued to roll until now including the opening of two sites for excavation. Visitors can descend to the excavation site and observe early river deposits along with stratigraphy and artifact finds.
Museum visits to the clusters of Sangiran Ancient Museum; Krikilan, Bukuran,
Ngebung, and Dayu bring visitors to experience the ancient atmosphere in the present. Museums make a million-year distance feel close.
