Half of what we know about Homo erectus in Asia seems to have come out of the ground near this village in central Java. Sangiran is a dome of eroded earth, a few kilometres across, in which stream cuts have exposed layers of volcanic ash and river sediment that built up over about two million years, and in those layers the bones of early humans and extinct animals have turned up. The first finds were made in the 1930s, notably by the German palaeontologist Ralph von Koenigswald, and the site has since produced the remains of some fifty individuals, about half of all known fossils of its kind in the world. UNESCO listed it in 1996.
You arrive across the flat, fertile plain of the Solo river, where rice fields, sugarcane and small brick-making yards stretch in every direction, and the dark cone of Mount Lawu stands on the horizon. Riding in Java is a lesson in patience and attention. Roads are crowded with motorbikes, lorries and minibuses, drivers overtake in unexpected places, and dogs, chickens and children appear at the roadside. Traffic drives on the left. The heat is steady all year, with the dry season from roughly May to September offering the clearest days, and the rains, from November to March, bringing sudden downpours that flood low sections.
Fuel is no problem, since Indonesian petrol stations and roadside vendors are everywhere. Colomadu, about seventeen kilometres away, has over twenty-six thousand people, and Surakarta, known as Solo, is a city of more than half a million, with a royal palace, batik markets and a famous street food scene. Try the local rice dishes, sweet soups and the soft, spicy sauces that Javanese cooking favours.
The museum at Sangiran displays some of the finds, and the viewing tower looks out across the exposed hills. Walk the paths carefully, because the soil is loose and crumbly, and remember that the site is protected. To stand above the excavations and think of the people who lived here a million years ago is a humbling thing, especially on a hazy afternoon when the plain below seems to go on forever.