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local man has discovered a skull of Homo erectus at an archaeological site in Sangiran, Central Java, the first such finding in 80 years.

The skull is thought to have belonged to a member of the archaic Homo erectus who lived between 1 million to 1.5 million years ago.

“It is an important and rare finding. To date, most of the fossils found in Sangiran have been animal and plant fossils,” Sangiran Ancient Human Site Preservation Center head Sukronedi said on Tuesday.

Sukronedi explained that the skull had been found by local villager Wiryorejo Setu, 56, on Feb. 6. The fossilized skull is 14 centimeters long, 12 cm wide and 10 cm high, smaller than those of Homo sapiens, or modern humans.

“The brain volume of the skull is just 800 cc, compared with 1,400 cc for Homo sapiens. The volume of the brain affected the intelligence level of early humans,” he explained.

A team of paleoanthropologists from Sangiran Museum is now examining the finding, which adds to around 100 ancient human skulls, most of them of typic Homo erectus, at Sangiran Museum.

The last discovery of an archaic Homo erectus skull was in 1936 by German paleontologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald .

“Since then, there had been no further findings of archaic Homo erectus fossils. So far we only have two of this type in our collection — the skull that was found in 1936 and the one this year. The period between the two findings is 80 years. During the period, all other findings were of animal parts, plants and tools used by ancient humans,” said Sukronedi.

Homo erectus is divided into three types, the archaic, typic and progressive. The typic lived between 300,000 and 800,000 years BC, while the progressive type lived between 100,000 and 100,000 years BC.

“Progressive Homo erectus fossils have never been found in Sangiran, only in Sambungmacan, Sragen and Ngandong, Blora,” said Sukronedi.

The museum will present awards to the finders of the fossils; in addition to cash, they will also receive plaques, and their names mentioned on the museum display case.

“We will also provide cash assistance from Rp 300,000 to tens of millions of rupiah, depending on the importance of fossils found. For Homo erectus skull fossils, we will provide compensation of Rp 25 million,” said Sukronedi.

The fossil’s finder, sugarcane farmer, Setu said the fossil was wedged between two rocks and that he had pried it out with a crowbar.

“I thought it was a fossil of an animal. I only found out that it was an ancient human skull fossil after handing it to the museum,” he said.

Wiryorejo, a serial excavator in the area, is used to finding fossils at the Sangiran site, searching for fossils around the cliffs in Manyarejo village and along the Bojong River.

His dozens of fossil findings are currently exhibited at the museum, including ancient elephant and
turtle fossils.

“I’ve never sold the fossils. My intention is only to help the museum. Many foreigners come to buy fossils, but I would never sell them,” said Setu.

The Sangiran site, or Sangiran Dome, spans 56 square kilometers encompassing four districts: Kalijambe, Plupuh, and Gemolong districts in Sragen regency and Gondangrejo district in Karanganyar regency.