WORLD HERITAGE LIST Sangiran

identification

Nomination SangirXI Early Man Site

Location Districts of Kalijambe, Gemolong, and Plupuh, Sragen Regency; District

of Gondangrejo, Karanganyar Regency

State Party Indonesia

Date 26 September 1995

Justification by State Party

The Sangiran Early Man Site is a cultural property of outstanding universal value, as it is considered to be a
Complete field ecosystem laboratory, comprised of geological, palaeontological, palaeobotanical, and
archaeological aspects.

It iS nominated to the world Heritage List under criteria ii, iii, iv, and v for the following reasons. The
data collected in Sangiran from chance finds by local people, by survey, and by excavation reveal an interaction
between nature, man, and his culture during the Plio-Pleistocene period (+ 2 million years ago). This interaction
iS Clearly illustrated in the Sangiran site through abundant vertebrate fossils fOUnd in the same layers as early
human fossils. Field observation has revealed a Close relationship between the early human and animal
Populations, indicating that human subsistence during the Pleistocene period was based on hunting and food
gathering. In the process of adaptation, the Homo erectus of Sangiran produced several Palaeolithic tools, in bone
as well as stone.

category of property

In terms of the categories of PrOPerty set out in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, the Sangiran
Early Man Site is a site.

History and Description

History

The geological Stratigr’aphy of the Sangiran area covers two million years, from the Late Pliocene to the Recent
Periods. The Lowerand Middle Pleistocene IeVelS have produced considerable fossil and artefactual material. Fifty
early human fossils CMegantnfopus palaeo and Pithecanthropus erectus/Homo erectus) have been found
(representing 50% of all the known hominid fossils in the world), together with numerous animal and floral fossils.
Palaeolithic Stone tools (“Sangiran flakes”) found at Ngebung include flakes, choppers, and CleaVerS in chalcedony
and jasper and, more ECently, bone tools. The site has also produced Neolithic axes.

This evidence indicates that hominids haVe inhabited the area for at IeaSt 1.5 million years. The
palaeolithic tools can be dated to c 800,000 BP, and the sequence of cultural material from this period through
to the Neolithic illustrates continuous evolution of man in relation to the ecosystem over a long Period.

Descrirxion

The geology of the Sangiran Early Man Site is sedimentary in origin, beginning with the Late Pliocene. It was
deformed into a domed anticline by diaper intrusion. The summit was subsequently eroded by river action,
turning it into a recessed, reversed dome. Early hominid fossils occur in successive formations, Starting With the
Pucangang (0.5-1.5 million years BP), but more particularly in the KabUh (0.25-0.5 million years BP) and NOtOPUrO
(I 1 ,OOO-250,000 years BP).

The region is now entirely devoted to peasant agriculture.

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 Management and Protection

Legal status

The Sangiran Early Man Site was declared a protected archaeological reserve, as prescribed in Monument Ordinance
Staallblad 23811931 by means of a decree issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1977.

Under the provisions of Law No 5/1992 concerning cultural property (which replaced Monument Ordinance
Stb. 238/1931), no eXPlOKitiOn, excavation, or other form of digging is permitted in the area without authorization;
penalties for transgression are fines and/Or imprisonment.

The Directorate General for Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for
administering this Statutory protection, operating through the Directorate of Protection and Development of
Historical and Archaeological Heritage, the National Archaeological Research Institute, and the Directorate of
Museums. In the event of inscription on the World Heritage List, the National Committee for World Heritage,
Coordinating Ministry of Welfare, will alSO be associated with this activity.

Management

Most of the area COVered by the nomination is privately Owned. However, the Government has eminent domain
over all early hominid and other fossils and artefacts. It also has eminent domain over private property for public
use. At the Present time it is not considered necessary to acquire privately owned property.

There is no development plan for the Sragen Regency beyond the provisions of the decree creating the
Protected archaeological reserve. The planned industrial estate, to create alternative employment for the local
PoPulation, is located outside the protected area. Proposal by the Karanganyar Regency to develop an industrial
estate at Gondangrejo, within the protected area, together with a ring-road for the town of Solo, have been
withdrawn.

The three agencies of the Directorate General for Culture listed above have a long-term Plan for the
integrated management of preservation, research, and use of the site, described in the report of the ICOMOS
expert mission as “thoughtful and constructive . . . [and1 a model that others could USefUlly learn from.” The
tOUriSm development aspects will be the responsibility of the Directorate General of Tourism. The relevant local
government bodies will be responsible for physical development and for coordinating the PattiCiPatiOn of local
inhabitants in ensuring preservation.

The ICOMOS mission report also comments that the plan “considers very sympathetically the life and
future of its inhabitants, both locally and nationally.” In its opinion, “the bOUndarieS proposed are sensible in
terms of long-term management.”

Conservation and Authenticity

COnSefVatiOn history

The significance of Sangiran first came to the notice of scholars in 1934 When chalcedony flakes were found in the
village of Ngebung. There followed an intensive research campaign between 1936 and 1941 by G H R von
Konigswald which led to the discovery of the first hominid fossil. Palaeoanthropological and geological research
began again in the 1960s and the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta set up a palaeoanthropological laboratory
in 1977.

The Indonesian National Research Centre for ArChaeOlOgy, in collaboration with the French MUSee de
I’HOmme, carried out an excavation in 1989, when a number of important hominid fossils were discovered.
PalaeOeCOlOgiCal research has been carried Out by A M Samah since 1982. Dating research Using fission-track and
PalaeOmagnetiC techniques took place in 1982-86. A local site museum and COnSeNatiOn laboraton/ was Set UP
in 1988.

Finds from excavations form only a minor part of the total fossil and archaeological material from the
Sangitan Early Man Site: mOSt come from chance finds by loCal people, Who are conscientious over handing these
to the aPPrOPriate authorities. There has never been any attempt at clandestine digging on their part.

In its report, the ICOMOS expert mission comments that “in an important sense lack of COnSerVatiOn is
what will continue to make the site scientifically relevant.”

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 Authenticity

The concept of authenticity has no relevance to this site, which is essentially a series of buried and largely
untouched geological strata.

Evaluation

ActiOnbylCOMOS

An ICOMOS expert mission visited Sangiran in February 1996. ICOMOS also consulted a world expert on human
palaeontology and palaeolithic archaeology on the cultural significance of the Site.

Qualities

To oUOte the expert COnSUlted by ICOMOS, the Sangiran Early Man Site is “globally Significant, displaying many
aspects of very long-term human physical and cultural evolution in an environmental Context. It will continue to
be so and remain dynamically informative.” It is an extensive, well defined, properly protected, and ComPetentlY
managed cultural property.

Comparative analysis

Sangif2n is recognized by scientists to be one of the most important sites in the world for studying fossil man,
ranking alOngSide Zhoukoudian (China), Willandra Lakes (Australia), Olduvai Gorge CTanzania), and Sterkfontein (South
Africa), and more fruitful in finds than any of these.

KOMOSobservations

The area COVered by the nomination is very large, covering some 56 km*. It is recognized that it iS made UP of
geological strata bearing early hominid fossils, and excavations and chance finds suggest that these cover most
of the area within the protected archaeological reserve. Because of thisscientific potential it is logical to propose
the entire area for inscription on the world Heritage List. This fact, coupled with the nature Of the Present
OCCUPatiOn Of the land and the management policies, make the definition Of a buffer zone SUPerflUOUS and,
indeed, even undesirable.

ReCOmWndatiOn

That this property be inscribed on the World Heritage List on the basis of Criteria iii and vi:

The Sangiran area is one of the key sites for the understanding of human evolution and admirably
illustrates the CieVelOpment Of Homo sapiens sapiens from the Middle Pleistocene t0 the Present through
the outstanding fossil and artefactual material that it has PrOdUCed.

1~0~0s. October 1996

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 . DRAWING NO. 4

TOPOGRAPHlCAL MAP ‘OF SANGIRAN EARLY MAN SITE 49/XLI-c (87-C)

. SYEET

SCALE I:25 000.

. . .- ARCH~~EOLOGICIL RESERVE AREA OF THE
- (.. c
!====?=?=: a* SINCI~A” EARL” MAN SITE AFTER THE
NINISTER’9 DECREE N0.070/0/1977

Sangiran : carte topographique du site

Sangiran : topographical map of the site