The Timor collection

The Timor collection

During the Permian and Triassic the area which is now the Indonesian island of Timor was covered with a shallow sea containing a very species diverse reef. The fossils representing that reef are remarkably well preserved en form a unique source of information for the reconstruction of the Permian and Triassic marine world.

Between 1910 and 1916 a number of expeditions were undertaken by the Technische Hoogschool Delft (now Delft University of Technology) to the Indonesian island of Timor. In 1937 the Geological Institute of the University of Amsterdam continued the fieldwork. In Naturalis both collections have been merged, digitized and made available for research.