Historical story

Podcast about the archaeological finds of Eugène Dubois and the excavations at Sobibor extermination camp by Ivar Schutte

In MakersRadio's podcast 'Resources to Think' you will hear two stories about archaeological finds that have been extracted with great difficulty, but are met with disbelief.

More than a hundred years ago, Dutch scientist Eugène Dubois was the first to discover fossil remains of homo erectus in Indonesia. He also found fossil freshwater mussels there. His finds are now in the Naturalis Museum in Leiden. 21 scientists have been researching the fossil shells of Dubois over the past seven years. The big question is:do these shells lead to new insights about human evolution?

Read more Eugène Dubois and other relevant finds

In the second story, Ivar tells Schute about an excavation he will not soon forget. In 2013, the Leiden archaeologist started a new assignment:extermination camp Sobibor in Poland must be brought above ground. In 1943 the Nazis demolished the camp. They erase all traces. So Ivar and his colleagues have to go into the ground to find remains of the camp.

Radio producers Richard den Haring and René van Es make fascinating radio documentaries about science and scientists with the podcast project 'MakersRadio'. After the successful pilot 'Kou Leiden' - it was voted the best local radio program in the Netherlands in 2015 - more inspiring stories at the interface of science &culture are on the horizon. Look at www.makersradio.nl for more info.