MUSEUM MATAMENGE

Mata Menge, the excavation site of the mammal and human fossils, is geographically located in the So'a Basin and administratively included at the border of two villages, namely Piga Village and Mengeruda Village, So'a District, Ngada Regency. The So'a Basin is a wide, hilly valley with the farthest striking views being Mount Welas to the northwest, Mount Inelika to the west, Mount Ebulobo rising to the south, and Mount Keli Lambo to the east.nnWelas is an ancient volcano whose eruption products are estimated to reach Mata Menge. While Ebulobo and Inelika is an active volcano. In this basin flows the rivers Lowo Lele, Wae Wutu, and Wae Bha. Mata Menge is located between the Lowo Lele River and the Wae Wutu River.nnThe rocks found in the So'a Basin from old to young consist of the Ola Kile Formation and the OIabula Formation. The Olabula Formation is the most important rock in relation to the discovery of hominin fossils. The lower part of this formation consists of Tuff Members, and the middle part is the Sandstone Member. Tuff members are dominated by tuffs, sand, silt tuffs, and pebbles, while sandstone members are dominated by fluvial sandstone and tuff sandstone silt. The upper part consists of members of the Gero, which consists of a change of layers of limestone and tuff layers that were deposited in ancient lakes. Members of the tuff and sandstone members are sediments of terrestrial environments (rivers), which are volcanic sediment products.