~ANGIRAN
Lo CATION
Collecting area of some 50 km2, bisected by the Ce-
moro river (a tributary of the Solo river) in east-central
Java, Indonesia, centering some 12 km N of Surakarta
(Solo town).
DISCOVERY
First hominids (Sangiran la, lb, 2) were found by G.
von Koenigswald in September, 1937; since then, there
has been a steady stream of finds reported by various
investigators, notably S. Sartono and T. Jacob. A listing,
complete up to 1980 (Sangiran 34), is given by Day
(1986). Numeration here is based on the system estab-
lished by Jacob (1973; quoted in Day, 1986), which
replaced a confusing set of informal designations, but
which has not always been followed subsequently.MATERIAL
Several dozen hominid fossils ranging from isolated
teeth and postcranial fragments to quasi-complete cal-
variae and even crania. Best-known specimens include
the “Pithecanthropus 11” calotte (Sangiran 2), the “Pi-
thecanthropus IV” fragmentary calvaria and maxilla
(Sangiran 4), and the Sangiran 17 (“Pithecanthropus
VIII”) cranium. (See below for further information.)DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The Sangiran Dome, an anticlinal structure holding
Neogene and Quaternary lacustrine and fluviatile sedi-ments with interspersed volcanics, has produced sub-
stantial fossil faunas whose provenances are, alas,
mostly poorly documented. The earliest continental de-
posits in the structure are assigned to the Pucangan (or
Sangiran) Fm; these deposits are conformably overlain
by the fluviatile Kabuh (or Bapang) Fm, whose base is
marked by a thin but lithologicdy distinctive layer of
well-consolidated calcareous gravels, sands and silts
known as the Grenzbank. Most of the known faunas,
including the hominids, probably derived from just
above or below the Grenzbank (see reviews by Itihara
et al., 1985; Leinders et al., 1985; Pope, 1985; Theunis-
sen et al., 1990; and Larick et al., 2001). A few
hominids come from the Grenzbank itself. Of the
better-known Sangiran hominids, Sangiran la and b, 4,
5, 6, 9, 22, and 27 probably derive from Pucangan
deposits, while Sangiran 2, 8, 10, 12, 17, and 21 are of
Kabuh provenance. Convincing radiometric dates for
Sangiran sites have long been elusive, and magneto-
stratigraphic interpretations have also been equivocal
(see references above). However, Swisher et al. (1994)
recently reported a weighted mean 40Ar/39Ar date (on
hornblende from pumice) of 1.66 Ma for the site in the
lower Pucangan Fm that yielded the ‘‘Meganthropus))
specimens Sangiran 27 and 31. This date fits well with
the assignment of the locality to the Matuyama geo-
magnetic interval, and also reasonably well with
seriated fission-track ages of 1.51, 1.49, and 1.16 Ma
published by Suzuki et al. (1985) for localities higher in
the Pucangan. It is also compatible with the 730 Ka
K/Ar date published by von Koenigswald (1968) on a482