News item | 17-12-2025 | 12:00
Four important objects from the Dubois collection were handed over to Indonesia on Wednesday, December 17. This concerns a skull cap, a femur and a molar that are attributed to a Homo erectus and a shell with scratches in it, which may have been made by a humanoid.
The Ambassador of the Netherlands to Indonesia Marc Gerritsen today handed over the masterpieces to Minister Fadli Zon (Culture) of Indonesia in the presence of Naturalis General Manager Marcel Beukeboom. The handover ceremony took place at Museum Nasional Indonesia. This museum will exhibit the objects.
Earlier this year, Minister Gouke Moes (OCW), on the advice of the independent Colonial Collections Committee, decided to return the entire collection that Dubois collected in Indonesia. This collection of more than 28,000 objects is managed by Naturalis Biodiversity Center and will be transferred to Indonesia in 2026.
The collection includes fossils and other natural history objects collected by scientist Eugène Dubois. The largest part was excavated and collected on Java and Sumatra between 1888 and 1900 by or on behalf of Dubois.
Scientific research
The Dubois Collection is an important source in scientific research into human evolution. Important pieces from the Duboiscollection include a skull cap, a molar and a femur attributed to a Homo erectusan early hominin. These objects have now been transferred first.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Indonesian scientists have been working intensively together for decades in research into the Dubois collection, and both Indonesia and the Netherlands attach importance to continuing this research. Indonesia has said that its national scientific institute, the National Research and Innovation Center (BRIN), will play an important role in preserving and managing the collection.