Soroti Museum Song Terus, Menbud Minta Jejak 300 Ribu Tahun Pacitan Diminta Tak Berhenti di Ruang Pamer

Fadli Zon highlights the great historical value of the Song Terus Museum in Pacitan, East Java. (IST)

PACITAN - Minister of Culture (Menbud) Fadli Zon highlighted the great historical value of the Song Terus Museum in Pacitan, East Java, which preserves traces of human life for about 300,000 years. However, this great potential is not considered to stop as a display of artifacts alone.

When reviewing the museum, Friday, March 27, Menbud Fadli emphasized that Song Terus must be developed into an educational and cultural center that is able to explain the long journey of human civilization in the archipelago in a complete and easy to understand way for the public.

According to the Minister, the Song Terus area contains important evidence of the continuity of human life. In addition to cultural findings that are estimated to be up to 300,000 years old, prehistoric humans known as Mbah Sayem with an age of around 8,500 years have also been found at this location.

"In this museum we can witness a series of human civilization journeys in Pacitan, from the beginning to modern humans like now," said Fadli.

He reminded, the strength of the Song Terus Museum lies in the big narrative it has. Therefore, the function of the museum needs to be strengthened with facilities that make the public not only come to see objects, but also understand their meaning. Menbud Fadli mentioned the need for auditoriums, 3D film screenings, to cultural art performance spaces.

Research in this area has been going on for a long time, from the colonial era by Von Koenigswald to Indonesian archaeologists, including R.P. Suyono. The results of the research are now the basis for presenting the Song Terus Museum to the public.

The Song Museum continues to be built from archaeological findings in the Pacitan karst area, which for decades has been known to be important in the study of Indonesia's prehistory. The findings include stone tools, fauna remains, and traces of human activity that indicate that habitation has lasted for a long time.

In the visit, Pacitan Regent Indrata Nur Bayuaji, Director General of Cultural and Traditional Protection Restu Gunawan, and the Head of the Directorate General of Cultural and Traditional Protection Wawan Yogaswara were present. Menbud Fadli emphasized that the Song Museum must continue to live as a public study room, not just a historical storage room.