The collection of Eugène Dubois was part of the national collection at Naturalis. The collection consists of tens of thousands of fossils, including a skullcap of a species that no one knew existed at the time it was found: Homo erectus. The scientific and cultural significance of this collection is immense. On September 26, 2025, the Dutch government decided that the entire Dubois collection would be returned to Indonesia.
Eugène Dubois
Eugène Dubois (1858-1940) was a Dutch scientist fascinated by fossils. Darwin's theory of evolution was still new when he came of age, and he set out in search of the evolutionary lineage of humans. He traveled to Java to search for evidence, and he returned to the Netherlands with an enormous quantity of fossils. The Dutch state entrusted these to Naturalis for management.
De collectie van Dubois
De Dubois-collectie bestaat uit zo’n dertigduizend objecten. Dat zijn vrijwel allemaal fossielen en die zijn voor een groot gedeelte afkomstig uit Indonesië. Deze fossielen spelen nog steeds een grote rol in de wetenschap. In de collectie bevinden zich meerdere Homo erectus-fossielen, waaronder de kies, het dijbeen en het schedelkapje dat Dubois gebruikte voor zijn soortbeschrijving van de Homo erectus. Er is ook een schelp met mysterieuze krassen erin. Was Homo erectus een kunstenaar? Recent onderzoek waarin Indonesische onderzoekers en Naturalis-medewerkers samenwerkten, suggereert overigens dat het nog maar de vraag is of kies en dijbeen wel écht van een H. erectus zijn. Onderzoek en collectie zijn nauw verweven bij instellingen als Naturalis, en blijven voortdurend nieuwe inzichten opleveren.
Teruggave-verzoek
In 2022, the Netherlands opened the door to the return of Dutch "plundered art" from former colonies. An external committee was established to assess the repatriation requests. In 2025, the verdict was reached: the Dubois collection had to be returned. The three-year wait for this advice was the result of exceptionally thorough research, including provenance research conducted by Naturalis itself.
Read the Naturalis Statement here
The advice and underlying research are publicly available
The FutureMoving Forward Together
Naturalis has had several discussions with the Indonesian government recently. These conversations are about much more than just the transfer of the collection. They also concern cooperation in the scientific and cultural fields. We both strive for a collaboration between our countries in a way that acknowledges our shared history and no longer allows it to be an obstacle to looking toward the future and conducting joint research. Over the past decades, Naturalis researchers have already been working side-by-side with Indonesian researchers. It is of great importance to not only continue but also expand this scientific collaboration around the Dubois collection, which offers excellent opportunities for this.
