The Trinil site became famous through the discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus, now called Homo erectus, in 1891 by Dubois. It is considered as an important starting point in the history of...Show moreThe Trinil site became famous through the discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus, now called Homo erectus, in 1891 by Dubois. It is considered as an important starting point in the history of paleoanthropology and therefore a key site for the study of the evolution of humankind. After Dubois finished his excavations in 1900, it was Selenka in 1907 who tried to confirm the important findings by additional excavations at the same site. Later research by Soeradi et al. (1985) and recently by Joordensand colleagues. (2009, 2015), showed that the site still is interesting and can evoke unresolved questions concerning dating of the first hominins on Java as well as their environmental contexts. The main goal of this thesis was to assess the potential the site still may have for future paleoanthropological research, in order to solve still remaining questions on dating and the biotic and abiotic environment of early hominins at Trinil. Therefore the existing (mainly published) excavation data produced by the teams of Dubois and Selenka were summarized, and the site locations were contextualized within a modern geographical map. Historical data, extant photographic material and a 2014 field trip to the location form the core material for this thesis. Based on these data it can be concluded that although most of the site is under water, still some edge structures of the excavations of Dubois and Selenka are visible today. It also can be concluded that it is possible to reconstruct the excavation areas and georeference them on a recent map. However the suggested georeferencing of the trenches has to be confirmed by additional studies at location. The evaluation of the archaeological potential of the Trinil are to access the fossil containing layer, the so called ‘Hauptknochenschicht’ (HK layer), is based on the fieldwork carried out by Dubois and Selenka, and on the geomorphological and geological maps produced by Soeradi et al. (1985). From this it can be concluded that the left bank south of the Dubois and Selenka excavations is the most promising area. Also the left bank directly east of the excavation pits has a reasonable potential. Studying the right bank east of the excavation pits might be interesting as no data are available yet. As there are still unresolved questions concerning the site’s lithostratigraphy, the age of the Trinil fauna, including the Homo erectus material, and the homogeneity of the HK layer, new archaeological/paleoanthropological studies in collaboration with the National Centre of Archaeology in Indonesia are promising and have to be encouragedShow less
