The Dutch government has agreed to return thousands of fossils to Indonesia from a world-renowned collection, after a commission ruled that they were removed in the colonial era “against the will of the people,” the education ministry announced Friday.
The historically significant trove known as the Dubois Collection includes a piece of skull uncovered from the Solo River on the island of Java that is regarded as the first fossil evidence of Homo erectus, which is generally considered to be an ancestor of our species, Homo sapiens. The fossils are often referred to as “Java Man.”
