EVENT INFORMATION

26
September
2025

Netherlands agrees to return the Dubois fossil collection to Indonesia

← Back to Dashboard
📅 26 September 2025 📍 Netherlands

The Dutch government accepted an independent committee recommendation to return more than 28,000 fossils excavated in colonial-era Indonesia by Eugène Dubois. The committee found that the collection never became Dutch state property and that coercion likely shaped how local people were made to reveal fossil sites.

Log in to like or bookmark this story.
🔖 Bookmark

People in this event

Gouke Moes

Fadli Zon

Eugène Dubois

Organizations in this Event

Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Colonial Collections Committee

Governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands