Sangiran Museum set to open 2014

Sangiran’s new museum is set to open in a couple of years, showcasing the finds of homo erectus in Java.

Sangiran Museum to open in 2014
Jakarta Post, 18 February 2012

The Sangiran Museum, which will display fossils of early humans, ancient animals and other relics, is expected to be open to the public in 2014.

The museum, currently being constructed in Sangiran, Sragen, Central Java, will be an information center for prehistoric human civilizations and will meet international standards.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the site on Thursday, accompanied by 11 of his Cabinet ministers and Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo.

“As a study center to learn more about our world in past civilizations and about human evolution, this museum is incredible,” the President told reporters.

He also expressed optimism that the museum would encourage tourists to come to the region, which could then help to stimulate the local economy.

The site, dubbed the “Homeland of the Java Man”, will house more than 100 pieces of fossils from prehistoric human beings that are predicted to have been alive between 1.5 million and 400,000 years ago. The fossils could represent more than 50 percent of the world’s Homo erectus species. Other artifacts — some 1.5 million-years-old — on display will include chopper axes, splitting axes, hand axes and blades.

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