Civilization in Indonesia

A. Before getting to know writing

Early humans did not know writing in their culture. This period of life is known as the
prehistoric era

The use of the term prehistoric to describe the development of human life and culture
when not familiar with writing is not appropriate. Because these two terms are different!
Praaksara is the era before writing, history is events that occurred in the past related to
human activities and behavior.

The era of prehistory began, of course, since humans existed. That is the starting point of
the pre-literacy era. The era of prehistory ended after humans recognized writing. The earth
we inhabit now, estimated to have started about 2500 million years ago.

Archeology is a field of science that studies evidence or traces of physical remains such
as plate artifacts, monuments, and so on.

The population of the Indonesian archipelago just entered the literacy period around the
5th century AD. It is much later than elsewhere, For example, Egypt and Mesopotamia have
known writing since 3000 BC.

B. The formation of the Indonesian archipelago

There are many theories and explanations about the creation of the earth. One of the
scientific theories of the formation of the earth is the "big bang" theory. This theory states
that the universe originally formed a mass of gas that filled the entire universe. The lump of
gas then exploded with a very powerful boom. After that, the matter contained in the
universe began to squeeze each other in conditions of very high temperature and density, so
that only energy remains in the form of protons, neutrons, and electrons scattered in all
directions.

The massive explosion caused the universe's bubbles to spread and swell in all directions
to form galaxies, stars, sun, planets, earth, moon, and meteorites

The evolution of the earth until there was life took a very long time. While the process of
evolution of the earth is divided into several periods as follows:
1. Azoikum, namely the era before the existence of life. It was more than a billion years
ago.
2. Palaezoikum, namely the oldest ancient times. Lasted about 350 million years
3. Mesozoic, i.e. middle antiquity. It is about 140 million years old.
4. Neozoikum, which is the latest ancient epoch that started 60 million years ago

According to earth experts, the position of the islands in the Indonesian archipelago is
located above the furnace sourced from magma in the bowels of the earth. When there is a
gap in the exit hole, the liquid comes out in the form of molten lava. When the lava reaches
the earth's surface, its temperature becomes colder from thousands of degrees to only the
normal temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius. At this temperature the lava liquid will
freeze to form igneous rock or crust. The existence of continental crust (land) and oceanic
crust always moves dynamically due to magma pressure from the bowels of the earth. This
movement of geodynamic elements is known as tectonic activity.

During the Paleozoic era, the geographical condition of the Indonesian archipelago was
not yet formed. At that time this area was still part of a very wide ocean, covering almost the
entire earth. In the next phase, namely at the end of the Mesozoic era, about 65 million
years ago, the tectonic activity became so active that it moved the Indo-Australian, Eurasian,
and Pacific plates. This activity is known as the tectonic phase (Orogenesa Larami). Very
active and strong tectonic activity formed the Indonesian archipelago in the Tertiary period
around 65 million years ago.

During the Pliocene period about 5 million years ago, there was a very strong tectonic
movement, which resulted in the process of uplifting the earth's surface and volcanic activity.
This in turn led to the growth of a series of structural hills such as large hills and fold hills as
well as a series of active volcanoes along the hill group. Tectonic and volcanic activity
continued to be active until the early Pleistocene, which is known as Plio-Pleitocene tectonic
activity. This activity takes place throughout the Indonesian archipelago.

C. Getting to know early humans

The following describes the important discoveries of human fossils in several places

1. Sangiran
In Harry Widianto and Truman Simanjuntak's book "Sangiran answers the world" it is
explained that Sangiran is the most complete and most important complex of ancient human
sites from the Pleistocene period in Indonesia, even in Asia. Sangiran site is a giant dome in
the form of a large basin in the center of the dome due to erosion at the top. The giant dome
was colored with undulating hills. The condition of geological deformation caused the
exposure of various rock layers containing fossils of ancient humans and animals, including
artifacts

Sangiran was first discovered and studied by P.E.C Schemulling in 1864, with the finding
of Verbrata fossils from Kalioso, part of the Sangiran region. Eugene Dubois had also come
to Sangiran, but he was less interested in the findings in the Sangiran area. In 1934, Gustau
Heindrich Ralph Von Koenigswald discovered lithic artifacts in the Ngebung area, which is
located about two kilometers northwest of the Sangiran dome.

2. Trinil, Ngawi, East Java

Trinil is a village on the outskirts of Bengawan Solo, in the administrative area of ​Ngawi
Regency, East Java. Archaeological remains have been found in this area long before Van
Koenigswald discovered Sangiran in 1934. The excavations carried out by Eugene Dubois in
Trinil have led to the discovery of ancient human remains that are very valuable to the world
of knowledge. Found the roof of the skull of Pithecantropun Erectus and several thigh bones
which indicate the owner has walked upright

In addition to the places above, ancient human remains of this type were also found in
Perning, Mojokerto, East Java; Ngandong, Blora, Central Java; and Sambungmacan,
Sragen, Central Java
 Based on several studies conducted by experts, it is possible to reconstruct several types
of ancient humans who lived in pre-historic times.
1. Types of Meganthropus
2. Types of Pithecanthropus
3. Homo type

In the development of early modern human life, its presence can be grouped into three
stages, namely:
1. Early modern human life that existed until the end of the ice age (about 12,000 years ago)
2. The presence of more recent modern humans, and based on their physical characteristics
is known as the Austromenaloid race
3. Starting around 4,000 years ago, new inhabitants appeared on the Indonesian
archipelago who were known as Austronesian speakers

Some specimens (classification) of Homo sapiens humans can be grouped as follows:

A. Man Wajak
In 1889, the wajak man was discovered by B.D Van Rietschuthen in a niche on the slopes
of the karst mountains in the northwest of Campurdarat, near Tuluagung, East Java.
B. Liang Bua Man
The burrow man was discovered by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood together with a
team from the National Archaeological Research Center in September 2003.

C. The debate between Pithecanthropus to Homo Erectus

The discovery of Pithecanthropus fossils by Dubois is linked to the theory of human

evolution written by Charles Darwin. Pithecantropus fossils by Dubois published in 1894 in
various scientific magazines sparked debate. In his publication Dubois stated that, according
to Darwinz theory of evolution, Pithecanthropus Erectus was the transition from apes to
humans.

The debate then continued to Europe I, when Dubois presented his findings at the
International Zoological Seminar in 1895 in Leiden, the Netherlands, and at the public
exhibition of the British Zoology Society in London. After the seminars and exhibitions, many
experts did not want to see their findings again. Dubois Punn then kept all of his findings,
until in 1922 the findings were started to be investigated by Franz Weidenreich. These
findings marked the emergence of a study of Paleoanthropology that was born in Indonesia.