The Tomb of the Mili Mongga: Fossils, Folklore, and Adventure at the Edge of Reality

A fossil expedition becomes a thrilling search for a mythical beast deep in the Indonesian forest – and a fascinating look at how fossils, folklore, and biodiversity converge. The need to understand and conserve biodiversity has never been more pressing. This is particularly urgent for vulnerable ecosystems such as islands, which have suffered human-caused extinctions throughout history and recent prehistory. A tale of exciting scientific discovery, The Tomb of the Mili Mongga is based on the story of expeditions to the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia. While there, Professor Samuel Turvey discovers an entire recently extinct mammal fauna from the island’s fossil record, revealing how islands support some of the world’s most remarkable biodiversity, and why many endemics are threatened with extinction. But as the story unfolds, a new narrative emerges – Sumba’s indigenous communities tell of a mysterious wildman called the mili mongga, a giant yeti-like beast that supposedly lives in the island’s remote forests. What is behind the stories of the mili mongga? Is there a link between this enigmatic entity and the fossils Sam’s looking for? And what did he discover when he finally found the grave of a mili mongga? The Tomb of the Mili Mongga combines evolution, conservation, anthropology, travel writing and cryptozoology to explore the traditional culture and unique biodiversity of a tropical island that’s largely unknown to the outside world. It also considers wider questions about the relationship between biodiversity and cultural diversity, what reality means from different cultural perspectives, and how folklore, fossils and biodiversity conservation can be linked together in surprising ways.