Jennifer Lynn Kerr

Eugenics, Colonialism and Physical Anthropology in the Dutch East Indies.

Physical anthropologists working in the Dutch East Indies used blood samples, physical measurements, and the human remains of indigenous people to promulgate racial categories. The undeclared motivation for doing so was likely to establish alterity between the autochthonous people of Indonesia and members of the Dutch State, as well as its European allies in order to apply eugenic ideologies in an effort to maintain the power and authority of the Dutch Colonial Regime.

The Dutch East Indies

Southeast Asia. A map of the East Indies, from William Dampier’s *New Voyage Round the World*, published 1697. Kessler Collection (Source).

The Dutch East Indies refers to the former Dutch Colony that occupied the East Indies―present-day Indonesia―from 1800, until the armed resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution in 1945. Early occupation of the region began on March 20, 1602 by the Dutch East India Trading Company; it was not until 1800 that the area was officially taken over by the Dutch government and nationalized.

In 1916, eugenicist Madison Grant wrote The Passing of the Great Race—a book which Adolf Hitler later referred to as “his bible” (Kuhl 2002, 85). In it, Grant mused about the future of the Dutch East Indies Colony and the lack of ethnic conquest by Whites (Grant 1922, 78). He was concerned with White men procreating in the Dutch East Indies and figured they stood little chance of overtaking the indigenous population unlike how the “Americans [had] exterminated the Indians” (Grant 1922, 78). Grant was also interested in issues surrounding heritability. He stated, “…they amalgamate and form a population of race bastards in which the lower type ultimately preponderates”(Grant 1922, 78).

Studio portrait of an Indo-European mixed family, Dutch East Indies (ca. 1900). By Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Issues of heredity in the Dutch East Indies were of primary concern to eugenicists becuase “most European migrants to the Indies were men; when they arrived in the colonies they secured their social status by marrying into prominent Indo-European families” and subsequently fathering children (Pols 2014). Like Grant, eugenicists with their eye on the East Indies, worried about the long-term effects of interbreeding. They “aimed to provide a scientific approach to the many social problems…between upper-class, full-blood Europeans, Indo-Europeans, and the indigenous population…”(Pols 2014).

A Decade of Progress

See the source image — The corresponding exhibit that accompanied the Third International Conference of Eugenics at the Museum of Natural History in New York. (Source).

From August 21-23, 1932 The Third International Congress of Eugenics was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The presidential address was delivered by Charles B. Davenport, founder of the Eugenics Records Office, who like Grant, had ties back to Nazi Germany. Davenport shared his vision for the future and his belief that social problems could be remedied with eugenic policy. At the conference he posited, “can we by eugenical studies point the way to produce the superman and the superstate?”(Davenport 1934, 17).

Charles Benedict Davenport.jpg — Charles Benedict Davenport, ca. 1929 (Source).

The conference resulted in a publication of scientific papers on eugenics research, known as A Decade of Progress in Eugenics, in which the authors explored eugenics research undertaken around the globe beginning in 1922. Both Madison Grant and Charles Davenport were members on the Committee of Publication.

Former presiding chair of the previous Second International Congress of Eugenics, a good friend of Davenport’s and the former host of the Third conference, was Mr. Henry Fairfield Osborn. Osborn was an American paleontologist with an interest in human evolution and the president of the American Museum of Natural History ( a position he held for 25 years).

Henry Fairfield Osborn, 71, president of the American Association, the highest honor that U. S. and Canadian scientists can give a colleague — Henry Fairfield Osborn on the cover of Time Magazine 1928 (Source).

Osborn wrote prefaces for Grants The Passing of the Great Race, in which he declared “…race implies heredity and heredity implies all the moral, social and intellectual characteristics and traits which are the springs of politics and government” (Grant 1922, vii). Osborn, like many Eugenicists, worried that traits such as criminality, feeblemindedness, and pauperism were all inheritable; if left unchecked these traits would become a burden to society. He wrote, “…the true spirit of the modern eugenics movement (is)…the conservation and multiplication for our country of the best spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical forces of heredity”(Grant 1922, viii). In other words, Osborn was a proponent of selective breeding―or birth selection―to use the parlance of the times.

In a paper written for the eugenics conference, Osborn turned his attention to Java in the Dutch East Indies. He expressed concern about overpopulation, stating “… the Javanese population is mounting with an alarming rapidity, having jumped from 12,000,000 to 40,000,000 in an incredibly short space of time, a naturally fertile race being protected from disease and multiplying under their original mating customs”(Osborn 1934, 31).

Poster issued by the Eugenics Society promotion Birth Selection (Source).

In response to the perceived overpopulation problem in Java, Osborn recommended birth selection as a positive eugenic solution, writing that it both “aids and encourages the survival and multiplication of the fittest [and also acts to]…check and discourage the multiplication of the un-fittest (Osborn 1934, 29). To provide an example of the negative effects of a population unchecked, he pointed towards the United States of America and proclaimed “there are millions of people who are acting as dragnets or sheet-anchors on the progress of the ship of state” (Osborn 1934, 32).

Birth Selection was known also as birth control,1917 (Source).

Osborn’s writing reflects the growing trend of eugenic concerns in the Dutch East Indies towards racial differences and racial hybridity (Pols 2014). Osborn was a prominent international figure “…he was second only to Albert Einstein as the most popular and well-known scientist in America” (Regal 2002, xii). “Because of his public profile Osborn’s pronouncements on science, education and the state of society were taken as authoritative by many” (Regal 2002, xii).

Eugenics and Physical Anthropology

Rubbing elbows with Osborn at the Third International Eugenic Conference was H. J. T. Bijlmer, a lecturer in Physical Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. He began his career in anthropological research in the Dutch East Indies (Sysling 2013, 113). He had used his position as a military medical inspector to obtain blood samples from indigenous people(Bijlmer 1934, 51). “He hoped that blood groups research would provide a new marker for racial classifications…”(Sysling 2013, 113). Bijlmer published an article alongside Osborn’s paper in A Decade of Progress in Eugenics where he revealed his blood sample study results. By publishing his blood sample research in the Eugenics Journal he likely hoped his research would be utilized by eugenicists in pursuing their endeavor to use racial classification to employ birth selection laws within the colony.

Image for post — Health officer and physical anthropologist Dr. H.J.T. Bijlmer is measuring the body of a Dayak porter. Unknown photographer, 1920 (Source).

Furthermore, Bijlmer was willing to reshape his ideas, once back in Europe, to obtain results that pleased his cohorts (Sysling 2016, 24). He said he was willing to “use words that went against some of his anthropological findings” because his audience preferred them (Fenneke Sysling 2016, 24). Bijlmers willingness to set aside any shred of an anthropological code of ethics was part of a growing trend of ethically questionable behavior by physical anthropologists throughout the Dutch East Indies.

Bijlmer’s Predeccesor, J.P. Kleiweg de Zwaan (aka: Jo Kleiweg de Zwaan) was a Professor in anthropology and medicine for the indigenous people of the Dutch colonies at the University of Amsterdam. He, like Bijlmer, also started his career in anthropological research in the Dutch East Indies (Sysling 2013, 113). It was Zwaan who “…suggested the forming of a ‘standard committee’ on blood groups”…(Bijlmer 1934, 51) and thusly inspired Bijlmer to begin collecting blood samples.

Dr. J.P Kleiweg de Zwaan with shamans from Taluk during Alfred Maass’ expedition in Sumatra (Source).

Zwaan was based out of the Colonial Museum, which is now as the Tropenmuseum (Sysling 2016, 1). For the museum, he amassed a massive collection of skulls, bones, photographs, plaster casts, and somehow human embryos preserved in spirits as well (Sysling 2016, 1).

Zwaan’s collection of plaster casts is the largest in the Netherlands and consists of 158 casts of men from the East Indies. The making of plaster casts was known to cause allergic skin reactions, fear and anxiety in the men undergoing the procedure (Sysling 2016, 90). Zwaan promised at least one villager a cure for impotence, should the man allow himself to be cast (Sysling 2016, 92). This was an ailment for which Zwaan had no such remedy.

Anthropologists, including Zwaan, purchased skulls from indigenous people. In one account Zwaan spoke of the “greediness of a Nias man” who refused to sell him a headhunted head for less than 200 Dutch Guilders (Sysling 2016, 27). According to Coinmill.com, 200 Dutch Guilders is equivalent to about 108 U.S Dollars. Adjusted for inflation that comes out to $3,378.84 in 2020. Clearly, skulls were highly valued by anthropologists.

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Studioportret van twee mannen in krijgskleding Zuid-Nias TMnr 60042492.jpg — Studio portrait of two men in martial dress, South Nias . Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Source).

Zwaan’s appetite became so voracious for human remains that he published a request for body parts in a Dutch Indies Journal. He appealed to “colonial administrators, military men, missionaries, doctors, planters and explorers [asking them] to send ethnological and anthropological collections to the Colonial Institute”(Sysling 2016, 40). “Entire skeletons…were preferred” (Sysling 2016, 40).

Perhaps responding to Zwaans call for body parts, J.F.K. Hansen, an officer in the Dutch army and armchair anthropologist, paid two Christian Batak missionaries to steal human skulls from a graveyard, disguise them as coconuts, and forward them to the Colonial Institute (Sysling 2016, 41).

Unfortunately, these unethical means for gathering evidence that could be used to define racial categories were not isolated incidents. Physical Anthropologists in the Dutch East Indies often made payments, performed acts of coercion, offered medical aid and used intimidation tactics to collect data—blood samples, skulls, body parts or body measurements (Sysling 2016, 48). Recognizing the uneven power balance tipped in their favor as members of the colonial regime, they were not afraid to take advantage of those in subjugation whenever possible (Sysling 2016, 72). They routinely profited from Colonial violence by obtaining body parts after colonial subjects were killed by the death penalty or in war (Sysling 2016, 11). If disturbing and violent means of data collection were the norm for Physical Anthropologists, then studies like Bijlmer’s blood research, Zwaans collection of embryos or studies by G.Vrlock & T. Zaayer on the female pelvises’ of living Javanese women, take on a particularly frightening quality (Kleiweg De Zwaan 1923, 4-5).

It also forces us to consider what the motivation could have been for this level of obsessive dedication? What was it that Physical Anthropologists were trying to achieve?

Eugenics―the Undeclared Motivation

“Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve of impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally.”
Sir Francis Galton – Published in A Decade of Progress in Eugenics, 1932.

There were numerous ties between the colonial regime and eugenics in the Dutch East Indies. For example, “in 1927, the Eugenics Association of the Dutch East Indies (Eugenetische Vereeniging in Nederlansch-Indië) was founded in Batavia”, the capital of the Dutch East Indies(Pols 2014). Furthermore, “The first Dutch periodical exclusively devoted to eugenics, Ons Nageslacht (Our Progeny)” began to be published in 1928, also in Batavia (Pols 2014).

Zwaan, however, is not often linked to eugenics. Zwaan’s Wikipedia page, for example, is devoid of any mention of eugenics and yet Zwaan’s student Bijlmer was a known eugenicist with ties to Madison Grant, Charles Davenport and Henry Fairfield Osborn. All three of these men had ties to Hitler and Nazi Germany as well. Additionally, Zwaan’s direct supervisor Lodewijk Bolk was a Dutch anatomist who “talked about race in terms of decline and fall, disease and restoration, emphasizing the connection between physical and mental characteristics and [most importantly]the eugenic uses of anthropological knowledge”( Sysling 2016, 125).

A vegetarian banquet at the Battle Creek Sanitarium during the first Race Betterment Conference in Battle Creek in 1914. Standing is Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. — Sadly, there were many eugenics conferences besides those hosted by the International Congress of Eugenics. Seen here is the Race Betterment Conference of 1914 (Source).

Furthermore, Zwaan was a founder of the National Bureau for Anthropology/Ethnology (Neatherlands) in 1922. “One of the main endeavors of the Bureau from 1925 onward was to publish a journal called, Mensch en Maatschappij (Man and Society) that included articles on a wide range of subjects including many on heredity and eugenics” (Sysling 2016, 19). Zwaan was firmly situated at the center of a professional circle ensconced by eugenicists. Many scholars have chosen to ignore the numerous ties that Zwaan (and his colleagues) had to eugenics. They dismiss his associations as merely a coincidence of the time period, however, it must be noted that in the 1930’s, Zwaan like his supervisor before him, “added eugenics as one of the applications of physical anthropology…” in his writing (Sysling 2016, 136).

Why define Race?

Zwaan and many others like him collected body parts, blood samples, plaster casts and other objects which fill museum shelves and display cases throughout the word. At the time, however, they were used to promulgate racial categories. Although, attempts to define race within the East indies failed over and over, Physical Anthropologists continued to collect “data” in an attempt to find any shred of evidence they could use to establish alterity. These categories were a necessary platform for anyone wanting to pursue eugenic ideology given that it is not possible to have racial cleansing or birth selection without them.

Current Exhibit of items from the Dutch East Indies at the Tropenmuseum in the Netherlands. (Source)

Considering the amount of eugenic ideology that entrenched Zwaan and his cohorts it is likely that many of them were eugenicists. At the very least it probable that they were heavily influenced by eugenics. These eugenic influences may explain why they willing to go to such great lengths to define racial categories to establish alterity between the autochthonous people of Indonesia and members of the Dutch State, as well as its European allies.

References:

H.J.T. Bijlmer. 1934. “Bloodgroups in Relation to Race in the Dutch East Indies.” In A Decade of Progress in Eugenics, 51–53. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co.

Charles B. Davenport. 1934. “Presidential Address: The Development of Eugenics.” In A Decade of Progress in Eugenics, 17–22. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co.

Grant, Madison. 1922. The Passing of the Great Race : Or the Racial Basis of European History. New York: Scribner’s Sons. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112004957228&view=1up&seq=7.

Kleiweg de Zwaan, J. P. (1875) 1923. Physical Anthropology in the Indian Archipelago and Adjacent Regions. Y J. H. de Bussy. J. H. de Bussy. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015032644596.

Kuhl, Stefan. 2002. Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Solcialism. Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/lib/berkeley-ebooks/reader.action?docID=431024.

Henry Fairfield Osborn. 1934. “Birth Selection versus Birth Control.” In A Decade of Progress in Eugenics, 29–41. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co.

Pols, H. 2014. “Indonesia (Former Dutch East Indies).” The Eugenics Archives. October 31, 2014. http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/world/5454098bc5159e4c76000001.

Regal, Brian. 2002. Henry Fairfield Osborn : Race, and the Search for the Origins of Man. Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, Vt: Ashgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327391393_Henry_Fairfield_Osborn_Race_and_the_Search_for_the_Origins_of_Man/link/5ee20685458515814a5468ba/download.

Sysling, Fenneke. 2013. “Geographies of Difference: Dutch Physical Anthropology in the Colonies and the Netherlands, ca. 1900-1940.” BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review 128 (1): 105–26. https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.8357.

Fenneke Sysling. 2016. Racial Science and Human Diversity in Colonial Indonesia. Singapore Nus Press.

‌Additional Content:

A video filmed in 1938 during the time of Dutch occupation which fails to show the dark side of Colonization in the Dutch East Indies.

Indonesian Independence Day Celebrations (1945).

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Sundaland: A prehistoric hot spot.

Written at around 150 AD, Ptolemy‘s Geography first mentions the vast Pleistocene continent of Sundaland. It is a Pleistocene region of Southeast Asia which included the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and parts of Indonesia. These areas, which are separated by the sea today, were previously one single landmass.

Homo Floresiensis — Depiction of prehistoric life in Indonesia. (Photo Credit)

The eastern boundary of Sundaland is marked by the Wallace Line, identified by Alfred Russel Wallace, and provides a boundary between the Indomalayan and Australasian areas.

Formation of Sundaland.

During the Pleistocene there were many glacial periods in which the earth’s climate shifted becoming colder and causing sea water to freeze. The resulting increase in ice formation led to drastic decreases in the sea levels. Subsequently, during warming periods, the ice melted, and sea levels rose by as much as 16 meters.

Between 110,000 to 12,000 years ago the earth entered into a prolonged cold period called the Last Glacial Period. During this time sea-levels fell by nearly 30 meters. This connected the present day islands of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra to mainland Asia and the Malay Peninsula and formed the largest Sundaland mass.

Sundaland dated circa 20,000 Before Present (BP), when sea levels were 116 meters below present.
(Photo Credit)

As the earth entered into the Holocene and began to warm up even more, the Sunderland sank into the sea forming the 17,000+ islands we see today.

Sundaland in the Last Post-Glacier Period

Life on Sundaland.

The Last Glacial Period occurred during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic on Sundaland. This was a time when many parts of the earth were populated by multiple species of roaming Hunter Gatherers. Homo sapiens were spreading out of Africa while much of Europe was covered in ice up to 2 kilometers thick.

gray canyon — The inhospitality of Europe during the Last Glacial Period may have pushed Hunter Gatherers into Asia. (Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash).

While Europe was encroached upon by ice, Sundaland was feelin’ pretty cozy. Being on the equator the temperatures were mild. Additionally, there would have been two summers every year. Sundaland was the place to be!

Sundaland the hot spot.

Sundaland is a famous hotspot for many significant paleo-archeological discoveries. The first Homo erectus was discovered by Eugene Dubois between 1891 and 1892, in Java. Shells excavated at the same site have been shown to be some of the oldest shell tools found anywhere in the world.

Furthermore, one of the worlds most significant archeological sites called, Sangiran is located in the Sunderland area. According to the UNESCO world heritage list, “half of all the world’s known hominid fossils” have been excavated from this site.

Sangiran and the surrounding Sundaland area was inhabited for over a million and a half years and remains one of the most important sites for helping us understand our human origins.

The top 5 most significant prehistoric discoveries were all made in Indonesia.

Indonesia has revealed some of the most significant finds in prehistory. These discoveries are helping paleo-anthropologists around the world to have a better understanding of our human origins.

Prehistoric Indonesia looked very different from the Indonesian archipelago of today, with it’s estimated 17,508 islands. Changing sea levels in the Pleistocene period transformed the islands into large landmasses like the ones seen above.

1. Homo erectus.

Homo erectus may have been one of the first hominids to inhabit prehistoric Indonesia. Eugene Dubois discovered the bones of the first Homo erectus at a site called Trinil in Java, Indonesia, between 1891 and 1892. The remains have been dated to between 1 million and 700,000 years old. At the time of discovery they were the oldest human ancestral remains ever found. The fossils were touted as representing the “missing link” between apes and modern humans and inspired many future paleoanthropologists to continue looking for intermediary species.

2. Homo floresiensis.

Found in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia, the remains of the first Homo floresiensis revealed an early hominid that stood just 1.1 m (3 ft 6 in) tall. Nicknamed “the hobbit” for it’s diminutive size, this hominid is thought to have lived about 80,000 years ago.

Hobbit - Homo floresiensis — Artist’s rendition of Homo floresiensis. (Photo Credit)

Some scientists at first believed the relatively short height and small brain of Homo floresiensis may have been due to pathology, or growth disorder in the already discovered Homo erectus species. Extensive research is now pointing towards insular dwarfism—an evolutionary process and condition whereby large animals reduce in body-size over time due to being isolated into a small environment—like the island of Flores. Pygmy elephants on Flores appear to have resulted from the same adaptation. The hobbit is, to this day, one of the most unique hominids ever found.

3. Oldest hunting scene.

In December 2017, scientists reported making the discovery of cave art depicting the oldest hunting scene in Pangkep, Indonesia. National Geographic reports that the cave art was discovered by an Indonesian spelunker named, Hamrullah—who is listed in scientific publications as simply, “unaffiliated”. While the circumstances surrounding this discovery are not totally clear, one this is for certain: the 43,900 year old painting has rocked the cave art world.

A portion of the wall in Maros Pangkep, Indonesia ( Photo Credit)

The painting appears to include several therianthropic figures (part human, part animal) hunting six different endemic mammals. The mammals are thought to be pigs, and dwarf buffalos. The human-like figures appear to be holding long thin objects which might be ropes or spears. The therianthropes suggest that whoever made these paintings had the ability to form imagined thoughts since part human, part animal beings do not exist. Many believe imagination is the basis for religious thinking. This means, the birthplace of religion may not have been in Europe as was previously thought, but perhaps it was in Indonesia.

4. Oldest Portable Art in Southeast Asia.

On March 16th, 2020, a team of archaeologists reported to having uncovered two stone plaquettes which may be the first known examples of ‘portable art’. The plaquettes date to between 14,000 and 26,000 years old.

One of the stones is said to contain a depiction of a water buffalo, and the other, a star, eye, or flower. The plaquettes are comparable in age to the earliest examples of portable art from the Levant and Africa. These are significant, however, because they are the first ones dated to the Pleistocene ever found in Southeast Asia.

Ray figure engraved into a rock — Early “art” found in Leang Bulu Bettue in Sulawesi. (Photo Credit – **Andrew Thomson**)

5. Oldest evidence of shell tool use in the world.

José Joordens, a researcher in the Netherlands, with access to fossil remains taken from Java in the late 1800’s, has discovered deliberate scratch marks on a fossilized shell. This discovery has led many to believe that the scratch marks were created by Homo erectus (found near the shells in the same strata) at Trinil, Indonesia.

Furthermore, in an article from the Smithsonian Magazine, Joordens said the shell had been sharpened, “the shell tool has a knife-like edge, so we assume that it was used for cutting and/or scraping”. The sediment in the shells date to between 540,000 and 430,000 years old.

Additionally, cut marks on Pleistocene mammal bones found at Sangrian, Indonesia (one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world) appear to have been made by clamshell tools. These bones have been dated to 1.6 and 1.5 million years ago. With these two types of evidence combined, it can be asserted that the oldest shell tool use in the world occurred in Indonesia.

bird's-eye view photo of mountain — Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, Indonesia (Photo by Adrian Hartanto on Unsplash)

Further resources:

Find a list of many notable Indonesian Archeological sites here.

The missing link: The story of how Homo erectus left Indonesia.

museum sangirang — Museum Purbakala in Sangiran, home of the Homo Erectus exhibit in Indonesia where it was first discovered. Fossils for the Homo Erectus type specimen are notably absent.
(Photo from Blogpost.)

Warning: This post does not contain photographs of actual human remains, however, some of the links below do.

All great Paleoanthropological stories begin in the past.

A concept first developed by Aristotle to classify organisms based on their ability to move and sense, as well as the temperature of their blood, took root in medieval Europe. Christian followers transformed this idea into what they called, the Great Chain of Being*. A cardinal example of Human Exceptionalism, the Great Chain of Being, placed all forms of life along a continuous chain or ladder. In it’s most simplistic expression, the Christian God sat at the top of the chain, below him were angels, followed by humans, then animals, plants, and finally minerals.

The Great Chain of being was first represented as a ladder called the “scala naturae” (the natural ladder), or “scala intellectus” meaning (ladder of intellect). *Liber de ascensu et decensu intellectus of Ramon Llull, written 1304, first published 1512*. (Public Domain)

This hierarchical classification system continued to inspire thinking for centuries to come. Carl Linnaeus’s 1735, Systema Naturae created nested categories for life. Jean Baptise Lemark published Système des animaux sans vertèbres in 1801, proposing that biological evolution happened in accordance to natural laws.

First illustrated edition of Systema naturae 1748 — The 1735 classification of Carl Linnaeus, creator of taxonomy, divided Homo sapiens, into continental varieties of europaeus, asiaticus, americanus, and afer, each associated with a different humour: sanguine, melancholic, choleric, and phlegmatic, and paved the way for the idea of Race, and thusly the Eugenics movement. (Photo Credit)

This placement of all life forms within a supposed natural order was so enmeshed in western society that it also inspired poetry, as can be seen in this passage from the 18th century poet Young,

Look Nature through, ’tis neat gradation all.
By what minute degrees her scale extends!
Each middle nature join’d at each extreme,
To that above it, join’d to that beneath .
. . . . . . . But how preserv’d
The chain unbroken upwards, to the realms
Of Incorporeal life?

-full version can be found here.

The missing link.

The Great Chain of Being was the likely inspiration behind the earliest publication that explicitly used the term “missing link“. Published in 1844, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Robert Chambers, used the words “missing link” to signify gaps in the chain of mankind. These gaps were later described as undiscovered transitional fossils. If found, these metaphorical “links” could fill in the evolutionary continuum from ape to modern human, and finally prove that humans descended from apes.

Use of the term “missing link” between 1800 and 1900.
Google Ngram Viewer

Obsession to find the missing link was at an all time high; Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, and Ernst Haeckel all used the term “missing link” in their work, further igniting generations of evolutionary enthusiasts keen to be the first to discover the “dark matter” of the paleoanthropological world. People seemed to know everything there was to know about the missing link―except where to find it.

Eugene Dubois was utterly transfixed by the idea of a missing link and began his search in while stationed in Sumatra, Indonesia as a Dutch army surgeon. In his free time, Dubois worked in Lida Adjer Cave, and quickly discovered a variety of fossilized animals remains, confirming his suspicion that fossilized bone could be found in Indonesia.

Follow modern Paleoanthropologists as they revisit Lida Ajer cave.

Dubois failed to find the missing link and in his frustration claimed, “everything here has gone against me, “in a letter to his friend and director of the National Museum of Natural History. He complained that his workers were “as indolent as frogs in winter”, ( a highly derogatory term used by colonialists throughout the archipelagos to describe indigenous people) and also noted that locals were keeping secret the locations of caves for fear they might be plundered. (Spoiler alert: they were!)

The bones unearthed.

In 1891, after moving to Central Java and setting up an excavation on the shore of the Bengavan River, Dubois finally struck archeological gold; he discovered the oldest hominid fossils (at that time) which would later become knows as Homo erectus.

The location of Trinil, 2 – the type specimen for Homo Erectus, and the corresponding femur found a year later. The two white squares show where the femur (left) and the skullcap (right) were discovered. *( Public Domain )*

The vault of a 900 cc skull , a molar, and a femur were all discovered by Dubois between 1891 and 1892, and subsequently given their original name of Pithecanthropus erectus. This name is often translated as upright ape man from, pithec the prefix for ape combined with anthropus, often written as man, and erectus meaning to walk upright. Anthropus, however, simply means human―and the fossils themselves bear no signifier pointing to any particular any sex.

historical image of Java Man ( Homo Erectus) bones and type specimen. — The three main fossils of “Java Man” were found in 1891–92: a skullcap, a molar, and a thighbone, each seen from two different angles might be better known as simply, Java Person. (Public Domain)

Dubois’s discovery was immensely significant due to the notable difference in the skull cap from the typical Homo sapien skull. A Homo sapien skull is globular and lacks a suborbital torus (brow ridge); the fossilized skull vault that Dubois found was long and low, and the brow ridge was large, so that it resembled more closely the skull of an ape, rather than a Homo sapien or modern human.

The general differences between Homo sapiens and Homo erectus.

Meanwhile, the femur looked wholly similar to that of a modern human, suggesting an ape like hominid, who could walk upright―the missing link between Ape and Modern Human.

An artists depiction of Homo Erectus.
*Sculpture: ©2010, John Gurche | Photo: Chip Clark, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History*

The bones leave Indonesia.

Dubois published his finds in 1894 claiming the bones―estimated to be between 1 million and 700,000 years old― came from the “missing link”. He wrote that they represented a single intermediary species positioned squarely between apes and modern humans. Critics were reluctant to bestow the title of “missing link” upon them. They believed the bones to be ape or human, but nothing in between.

Dubois spent the next year frustratingly defending his position. Then, in 1895 Dubois left Indonesia for the Netherlands to become a professor of Geology at the University of Amsterdam. Accompanying him on this trip home was his wife Anna, and the set of controversial bones.

Between 1894 and 1900, many scientists slowly began to come around to the idea that the fossils did indeed represent a missing link, but most continued to reject Dubois assertions that they fit squarely in the middle of the evolutionary scale. In 1900 at the World Exhibition in Paris, as part of one final attempt to assert his claim, Dubois presented a life-size model with a notable even spread of ape and human characteristics; public opinion was unchanged.

The bones that changed the world.

Dubois, recoiled into solitude taking his bones with him. He kept them hidden from the scientific community―presumably attempting to preserve his intellectual property rights and avoid further debate. Although Dubois may have felt rejected by his peers, his findings had a monumental impact. Scientists had not totally accepted Dubois theory, but it was still the first time in history that they had begun to accept a possible intermediary species of any kind.

At the Museum Naturalis in the Netherlands there is a exhibit dedicated to Eugene Dubois and his contributions to the field of Paleoanthropology.

Dubois died in 1940, leaving behind a legacy as the first person to go looking for the missing link. His work revolutionized the way in which many think about our human origins, and it has inspired many future paleo-anthropologists to follow in his footsteps. Since Dubois, many more important discoveries have been made such as : Homo heidelbergensis, the Taung skull, Sinanthropus pekinensis and so on.

Where are the bones now?

brown and gray road street signs at daytime — Photo by Bruno Wolff on Unsplash

On January 13th 2020 43,000 articles, manuscripts, books and statues that comprise the Dubois archive were officially added to the Naturalis collection at the Museum Naturalis in the Netherlands. Housed alongside them are Dubois’ most famous finds: the bones of Homo Erectus that he brought back with him from Java. Exactly how or when they made their way to the Museum Naturalis remains a mystery, but one thing is for certain―they are a long way from home!

John de Vos, the retired former curator of the Dubois collection, claims that Indonesia has never shown interest in repatriating the Javanese fossils”. At least, it was never mentioned”, he says in an article from 2019. “I had a counterpart in Indonesia and lots of contacts in high places at the institutions and universities, but it was never the subject of discussion”.

Don’t wait―repatriate!

turned on gray alarm clock displaying 10:11 — Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash

Museums and institutions throughout the western world have often waited for repatriation claims to be filed before they consider taking action. Museums can and should begin the conversations surrounding repatriation instead of waiting for someone else to do it. The process of returning artifacts and human skeletal remains to their places of origin should be at the forefront of all conversations within Anthropology.

Evelien Campfens, from the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, is doing her doctoral research on looted art, and says in an article from Mare Online, “there are special rules for human remains…but it must be done so they can be respectfully repatriated.” **

landscape photo of coconut trees — Photo by Hugo Matilla on Unsplash

This author agrees, and strongly urges the Museum Naturalis in the Netherlands to begin the important process of repatriating the bones that Eugene Dubois removed from Indonesia 125 years ago.

Further Resources:

*If you are interested in reading more about the Great Chain of Being and how it influenced early thinkers, scientists, and anthropologists, a free downloadable book can be found here.

**For more information on the subject of repatriating prehistoric remains there is a thought-provoking article which can be found here.