Netherlands returns fossil collection, including 'Java Man', to Indonesia

The Netherlands said it would give back a major fossil collection to Indonesia, granting its former colony’s request to recover historical artefacts, including the bones of “Java Man’, the first known fossils of the Homo erectus species from which humans are believed to have evolved.

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“At Indonesia’s request, the Netherlands is transferring more than 28,000 fossils from the Dubois collection... This collection is an important resource in research into human evolution,” the Dutch government said in a statement on Sept 26.

It added that it had taken that decision following the advice of the independent Colonial Collections Committee and that the Dutch Culture Minister Gouke Moes had handed his Indonesian counterpart Fadli Zon a letter announcing the move.