Timeline of the people of Sragen who found ancient ivory fossils and received prizes of 1 million Indonesian rupiah

Klinik Farma – The discovery of ancient ivory fossils by a resident of Ngebukh Village, Ngebung Village, Kalijambe District, Sragen Regency, Central Java, has attracted public attention. The discovery of ivory fossils in Sragen was immediately taken up by the Sangiran Museum of the Ngebung Cluster.

Even the discoverer of the ancient fossil ivory received compensation from the Sangiran Museum in the amount of 1 million Indonesian rupees. See the chronology of the discovery of the following ancient ivory fossils by the inhabitants of Sragen.

Chronology of the discovery of ancient ivory fossils by the inhabitants

An ancient ivory fossil 3.25 meters long was found by a local resident named Rudy Hartono (35) who was digging the foundation of a house on Monday (July 31, 2023) around 5:00 pm ET. By that time, the builders had already gone home.

Read also:In search of ancient ivory fossils, the people of Sragen win prizes of 1 million Indonesian rupiah, reap the pros and cons

“At the beginning of the year, I was digging for the foundation of the house. Yesterday, the workers went home, I continued (digging) myself, then I found stretched fossils,” Rudy said on Tuesday (01/08/2023).

Rudy knew it was a fossil because it could be seen from the fiber. He then reported his discovery to the Sangiran Museum of the Ngebung Cluster.

Fossil age 800 thousand years

The Sangiran Center for the Preservation of Early Human Monuments (BPSMP) immediately went to the location of the ancient ivory fossil found by Rudy to conduct research. They also carried out excavations at the site of the find for one day.

Suwita Nugraha, acting rescuer of finds and monitoring rewards for the Sangiran Complex Site, said his team had confirmed that the site was a fossil ivory.

Read also:Ancient Sragen Elephant Ivory Price Hits IDR 1.4 Billion in Collector’s Auction Market

“As for the fossils, I can confirm that they are ivory fossils,” Suvita said at the site where the ivory fossils were found on Tuesday (01/08/2023).

However, Suwita was unable to confirm whether the type of elephant fossil was Stegodon or Elephas. However, according to him, the estimated age of the ivory fossils in Sragen has reached 800,000 years.

“We found tufa or part of gabuh, because the color is really yellow, about 800 thousand years ago, it is really old,” Suvita explained.

Stored in the museum warehouse

In addition, after inspection, the ancient ivory fossils will be temporarily stored in the vault or warehouse of the Nguebung Museum. The fossil will later be registered as a cultural heritage site so that the finder can commercialize it.

Fossil sites can be used as tourist attractions

Suvita categorically forbade the sale of ancient ivory finds. Instead, discoverers can turn the fossil into a spectacle or tourist attraction for a fee.

Rudy, as a discoverer, and the locals also agreed to make the fossil a tourist attraction after it was returned by the museum.

“For the village to have a tourism icon, to have income for the village and individuals, it could attract tourists to the Nguebung cluster because the museum is very quiet,” he said.

Inventors receive a reward of IDR 1 million

In addition, Suvita guaranteed that Rudy, as the discoverer of ancient ivory fossils, would receive compensation or compensatory money. He said the compensation was provided by the Sangiran Museum as a token of appreciation to the residents who saved the fossils.

“This is a form of appreciation for inventors who report compensation or compensation from the museum,” Suvita said on Sunday (06/08/2023).

When asked how much Rudy Hartono would earn as the discoverer of the Sragen ivory fossils, Suvita said his group was still waiting for the evaluation team’s calculations. However, he said that the amount of money Rudy would receive could exceed IDR 1 million.

“Nominally waiting for the evaluation team from our office, this was not done because the members of the evaluation team are still in the foreign service. For example, this (an ancient ivory fossil) is worth over 1 million rupees in appreciation. from the government,” Suvita said.

Is IDR 1 million rewards too low?

However, it turned out that the amount of 1 million rupees in compensation from the Sangiran Museum for Rudy was considered too small by netizens. It is said that the face value is low if an inventor sells the ancient ivory fossils he has found to collectors.

“Very cheap, only a million, better to sell to collectors, maybe more,” netizens said. “It’s very small if you sell to collectors, I think you can get many times more,” continued another.

Authors: Rohmadoni Trias