SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog » Indonesia archaeology

International Conference on Srivijaya Civilization, July 16 – 19, 2008

noelbynature — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:03:05 +0000

From the Palembang Centre for Archaeology:

It is the general assumption that Srivijaya was an powerful maritime kingdom that played an important role in the political forum in early Southeast Asia for many centuries, from 7th century to the end of 13th century AD. Just as its sudden appearance not very much is known of its decline, for that matter, the extent of this hegemony especially in Insular Southeast Asia during the height of its power. It influenced many social aspects in the region at that time, such as history of political life, beliefs, culture and economy.

The remains of Srivijaya civilization, tangible or intangible are still found up to now in many sites in South East Asia countries. The researched about Sriwijaya is being conducted in each country until nowadays, and it was come out with a long term polemic about the center of this huge kingdom.
Several sites were presumed as a center of Srivijaya Kingdom and its supported with many written sources and archaeological evidences, such as Palembang and Jambi in South Sumatera Indonesia, Ligor in Malaysia, and Chaiya in Thailand.

With this as background sholars are not agreement as to the location of the site (s) of Srivijaya. Until the last seminar (1985) Seameo Project in Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA), it is still confusion in the construction of the center of activities of the kingdom. There are many places and regions that claim to be the center of Srivijaya.

The present Seminar on Srivijaya Civilization will be present the followings objectives as guidelines for drawing up the development for research projects on this important period of Southeast Asian History.

Goal

1) To give information of the last decade years researches on Srivijaya.
2)To give information there was cultural dan historical relationship among Indonesia and Southeast Asia
3) To give information that Srivijaya was a powerful empire in the history of Indonesia and Southeast Asia
3) To give information about Srivijaya as a maritime and powerful empire in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in the early history.
The Seminar outcome:
1) Proceedings on Cultural History of Srivijaya Civilization
2) Documented all the last decade years researches on Srivijaya

Venue

The seminar activity will be held at Quality Hotel in Palembang, July 16th – 19th, 2008 (3 days seminar and 1 day for site visit). Starting in June with the celebration of the rise of Srivijaya 682 AD. and will be continue in July with Seminar on Srivijaya. The Seminar will be organized by the National Research Centre and Development of Archaeology (Puslitbang Arkenas) in Jakarta joined with Research Branch Centre for Archaology (Balai Arkeologi) in Palembang.

Participants

The seminar is an effort to bring qualified persons to draw up an integrated Research Plan to the undertaken by scholars in Southeast Asia. A number of experts from foreign countries as well as from Indonesia will attend the seminar. They are from various discipline (archaeology, history, art, architecture, geology, and others), and from institution inside/outside of the region which have join researches in Srivijaya such as India, China, England, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore Brunei, Philippine and Indonesia.

Topic

The topic will be classified into general and thematic studies, such as:
1) Settlement: early settlement, urban settlement
2) Environment
3) Religion
4) Trade/maritime
5) Technology
6) Art and architecture

If you need more detail information please contact
Organizing Committee
1) The Centre of National Archaeology
Jln. Raya Condet Pejaten 4 , Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta
2) Archaeological Office in Palembang, South Sumatera
Jln. Kancil Putih, Lr. Rusa. Demang Lebar Daun, Palembang, Sumatera Selatan
email: balai(AT)arkeologi.palembang.go.id

Related Books:
- Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya
- Consultative Workshop on Archaeological and Environmental Studies on Srivijaya (I-W2b), Jakarta, Padang, Prapat, and Medan, Indonesia, September 16-30, 1985: Final report
- Sriwijaya dalam perspektif arkeologi dan sejarah
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula
- Ancient History (The Indonesian Heritage Series)

Latea Cave, burial site of Pamona ancestors

noelbynature — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:26:59 +0000

The Latea Cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long been a burial site for the Pamona people, who have interred their dead in wood coffins. The practice of wood coffin cave burials is quite similar to the burials among the Toraja people in South Sulawesi. There have also been some coffin cave burials reported in Sabah (Borneo) and Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam.

Latea Cave, burial site of Pamona ancestors
Jakarta Post, 11 Feb 2007
Link goes to the Jakarta Post website, direct link to the article may not be available

Latea Cave is more than 30 million years old. This natural cave is located in the limestone of Parere Hill. It is the place where the Pamona people, the indigenous residents of Poso, traditionally buried their ancestors.

The Pamona people have lived in the hills of Central Sulawesi for generations; particularly in the Wawolembo area. Their practice of putting the dead in caves did not stop until the 19th century.

5 Southeast Asian archaeology sites to visit (that are not Angkor)

noelbynature — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:19:40 +0000

Forget Angkor. Sure, it’s one of the largest religious monuments in the world, and you gotta admit that with spectacular architecture, sculpture and bas-reliefs there’s no wonder over two million people visited Cambodia last year. But the archaeological sites in Southeast Asian are so much more than the 11th century temple to Vishnu.

With some suggestions from the facebook group, SEAArch gives you the internet tour of five other spectacular archaeological sites in Southeast Asia open to the casual visitor â€“ and three of them are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. So step in and take a look at some of the other great sites Southeast Asia has to offer – in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and yes, even Singapore!

Note: The names in parentheses denote the nearest airport.

10th century Sanggurah Stone returns to Indonesia

noelbynature — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:05:44 +0000

A Javanese stone tablet that was taken by British colonialists in the early 19th century returns to Indonesia. The four-tonne stone dates to the Mataram Kingdom and carries an inscription in old Javanese. It is ascribed to the Javanese king, Sri Maharaja Rakai Pangkaja Dyah Wawa Sri Wijayalokanamottungga.

Ancient artifact to return to Indonesia
Jakarta Post, 24 Jan 2008

Indonesia negotiates return of ancient stone from Scotland
MSN News, 24 Jan 2008

There’s a strange twist in the story – the businessman who was implicated in the theft of artefacts from a museum last year was also responsible for the repatriation of the Sangurrah Stone.

“The Minto Stone is an important historical artifact and a crucial source of information. It contains the history of the Mataram kingdom in Central Java and its eventual shift of power to East Java,” Culture and Tourism Ministry director general of history and archeology Hari Untoro Drajat announced at a media gathering Thursday.

The stone was taken out of Indonesia in the 1800s by Sir Stamford Raffles, who presented it to Lord Minto, then the Governor-General of India. The stone remained in the possession of the Minto trust in Scotland.

Related books:
- Introduction to Old Javanese Language and Literature: A Kawi Prose Anthology (Michigan series in South and Southeast Asian languages and linguistics)
- Old Javanese Literature (Working papers / Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University)
- Kalangwan: A survey of old Javanese literature (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. Translation series ; 16)
- Southeast Asian Languages and Literatures: A bibliographical guide to Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Javanese, Malay, Minangkakau, Thai and Vietnamese by E. U. Kratz (Ed)
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula by P. M. Munoz
- Ancient History (The Indonesian Heritage Series) by Indonesian Heritage

Museums expose treasures of the past

noelbynature — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:34:58 +0000

This feature in the Jakarta Post talks about the different museums in Jakarta – the National Museum, the Jakarta History Museum, the Wayang Museum and the Arts and Ceramic Museum are some of the 50 museums in Indonesia’s capital.

Museums expose treasures of the past
Jakarta Post, 13 January 2008

For my part, I would really like to visit the National Museum.

he collection also holds archaeological, ethnographic, numismatic/heraldic and historical items. Many archaeological artefacts, such as statues of Hindu deities and temple reliefs, were influenced by Indian culture and found in East and Central Java. The 8th-century Durga Mahesasuramardhini and the 9th-century Shiva Mahadewa — the supreme god of Shivaite-Hinduism — and the famous 9th-century Ganesha, god of science, are a few examples.

You can read the full story here.

Related books:
- Icons of Art: The Collections of the National Museum of Indonesia by J. N. Miksic
- Museum Treasures of Southeast Asia by B. Campell
- Museums Of Southeast Asia by I. Lenzi

Book Review: The Discovery of the Hobbit

noelbynature — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:02:14 +0000

Duncan Graham, a writer based in Surabaya, gives his take on the book The Discovery of the Hobbit by Mike Morwood and Penny van Oosterzee. Another review of the book has been posted on SEAArch here.

The Trouble With Hobbits
The Jakarta Post, 23 December 2007

I liked the way this review talked about the motivations behind the different people in the book – the whole Hobbit drama is as much about cultural and academic differences as it is about the discovery of the skeleton.

If you think only the coarse and the crass behave badly and that the better educated have evolved to follow superior codes of behavior, then this book is a revelation. Be you peasant or professor, we are still subject to the human evils of jealousy, hoarding, chicanery, dinosaur-sized egos and all the other sins of Adam. This is particularly so when personal reputations are at stake and someone else is invading our territory.

You can understand their sensitivity; if you’d built your life and a splendid teaching career on the foundation of a theory that was suddenly undermined and destroyed by an upstart from afar digging on your patch, you’d be fighting to discredit the discovery.

You can read the full review here.

You can buy the book here:
- A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the “Hobbits” of Flores, Indonesia by M. Morwood and P. van Oosterzee
- Little People And a Lost World: An Anthropological Mystery by L. Goldenberg
Or check out the SEAArch bookstore for more books on Southeast Asian archaeology.

Relooking Indonesian cultural artefacts

noelbynature — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:33:43 +0000

Following the wake of the stolen museum artefacts in Indonesia, an editorial in the Jakarta Post wonders if many of the artefacts in the museums are even genuine.

Museum thefts suggest we might want to weigh the gold on Monas
Jakarta Post, 07 December 2007

If statues in Surakarta were stolen with the help of the museum curator and copies of ancient stone carvings can be made by artisans in Muntilan, no ancient Javanese stone statue is safe anywhere here. The type of stone the ancients used is still routinely produced by Merapi volcano and the skill and style of the art is still in Muntilan. How can we be sure that similar statues in other museums are originals?

Bramantyo Prijosusilo also writes about many replicas of other cultural treasures – keris, cannon, goldworking and statuary that can be easily obtained in Indonesia. Read the full post here.

Bali – not just for tourism, but archaeology too

noelbynature — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:06:37 +0000

Unlike the rest of the nation, the Indonesian island of Bali is somewhat of an anomaly because of its strong Hindu population and culture. Balinese religion has remained largely intact and true to the Hindu-Buddhist traditions that dominated the region before the arrival of Islam. Besides being a popular regional tourist destination, the island of Bali also contains some significant archaeological treasures – including a local version of the Valley of the Kings.

Creative Commons image by kumasawa.

Tracing the sites of Bali’s historical kingdoms
The Jakarta Post, 08 December 2007

While you are in Bali experience non-touristy activities by tracing the islandâ€™s richest archaeological zones of Bedulu in Gianyar regency, around 65 kilometers northeast of Nusa Dua.

Located between parallel rivers â€” the Pakerisan or River of the Short Dagger and the Petanu or River of the Curse, Bedulu village is rich in ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples, pre-historic relics, and the ruins of stone-carved â€œpalaces,â€. The area was once known as Baliâ€™s â€œvalley of kingsâ€

Here you find fragments of Baliâ€™s monumental kingdoms. Evidence, dating back to the Bronze age, of the islandâ€™s first human habitation is believed to have been unearthed here. And this is where Baliâ€™s rich culture and traditions were born.

Caves, temples, prehistoric remains… you can read more about Bali’s archaeological heritage here. it seems there’s a lot more to Bali than just the bars and beaches. Has anyone been seen these archaeological sites before?

Nalanda and the Southeast Asian connection

noelbynature — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:53:44 +0000

If you’re in Singapore between now and March 2008, don’t miss a unique opportunity to drop by the Asian Civilisations Museum for a special exhibition called On the Nalanda Trail, which showcases Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia and traces the pilgrimages of three Chinese monks as they travel to India and back. I’ve written about the exhibition’s focus on China and India at yesterday.sg; here, I’ll write about the exhibition in relation to Buddhism in Southeast Asia.

We start at the mid-point of the exhibition, which brings us to Nalanda, the ancient university and centre for Buddhist learning between the 5th and 12th century. Nalanda was one of the earliest residential universities, with dormitories for students and at its height saw some 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers learning a variety of disciplines from Buddhism to astronomy and mathematics.

Creative Commons photo by dorje-d

One of the exhibition’s highlights is this copperplate inscription from Nalanda University, which has a strong Southeast Asian connection:

The inscription, dated to 860 AD and written in Devanegari and proto-Bengali script, states that a king of Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra) names Balaputradevi gave an endowment for Nalanda. The inscription also notes that Balaputradevi was part of the Sailendra dynasty in Javabhumi (Java, to the east).

Notice the crest of Nalanda, which is a wheel flanked by two deer:

Nalanda became the brewing pot of several flavours of Buddhism, notably Vajrayana Buddhism, which is now commonly known as Tibetan or tantric Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism which was widespread in Southeast Asia until Theravada Buddhism became dominant in mainland Southeast Asia after the 11th century.

On the Nalanda Trail features an impressive collection of artefacts, many on loan from the National Museum in New Delhi, India as well as some other museums in the region. In my post about Bujang Valley in Kedah, I had focused more on the later-period Hindu ruins and artefacts. Now I know I featured so few Buddhist artefacts – they were all on loan to this exhibition!

The first picture is some of the items found in the reliquaries that were buried in the candi at the Bujang Valley. The second is one of the many clay votive tablets that were found in the Buddhist ruins:

The third monk featured in the Nalanda Trail is another aspect of this exhibition that has strong Southeast Asian connections. Unlike the other two monks Faxian (399-414) and Xuanzang (629-645), Yijing (671 – 695) made the journey to India via the sea route, passing through Champa and Srivijaya enroute to Nalanda where he spent 10 years.

On his way back to China, Yijing spent six months in the Srivijayan capital (probably Palembang) where he learned Sanskrit, where he also commented and recommended future pilgrims to make a stop there because of the high quality of education. In fact, Yijing’s account is one of the earliest ones to identify Srivijaya in historical records.

On the Nalanda Trail is a great, not-to-be-missed exhibition. I’ve focused solely on Southeast Asia here, but I haven’t even scratched the surface on the remarkable specimens of Nalanda International Style of art that made its way to Southeast Asia, and of course the other highlights of the exhibit including rare Dunhuang paintings and even bone relics that are closely associated to Buddha himself! These footprints here are some of the earliest representations of Buddha – that’s right, they are aniconic.

SEAArch would like to thank the National Heritage Board of Singapore and the Asian Civilisations Museum for the permission to shoot and publish these images online. On the Nalanda Trail is on from now until March 2008. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.

Live from 'Sharing Our Archaeological Heritage'

noelbynature — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:11:26 +0000

I’m writing from Johor Bahru, Malaysia, where sessions at the international archaeology seminar organised by the Association of Malaysian Archaeolgists are underway. Monday’s been pretty packed filled with session after session of presentations from the different parts of Southeast Asia – this seminar’s theme is ‘Sharing Our Archaeological Heritage’.

Keynote speech by Dr Stephen Oppenheimer

Yesterday’s sessions began with the keynote speech by Oxford’s Stephen Oppenheimer about Southeast Asia’s role in the various waves of human migration. Explaining from a genetic perspective, he suggested the strong genetic evidence for a single southern route (by hugging the coast via India) out of Africa into Southeast Asia and Asia some 80,000 years ago. In more recent times, he also suggested indigenous expansions of local populations within Southeast Asia instead of a single ‘out of Taiwan’ theory to explain human migration into Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia.

Other presentations that caught my ear today was Dr Rasmi Shoocongdej’s work in Northwestern Thailand – I had a nice chat with her during lunch about conducting my fieldwork surveys in Thailand next year and also received some advice from her. Of course, homo floresiensis had to pop up – and from Dr. Harry Widianto’s presentation. I heard why he didn’t consider the hobbit to be a new species. It seems to me that the divide on opinion is very much based on nationalistic lines – with the Indonesians very much denying that homo floresiensis is a new species.

Another day of presentations on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, we go on an archaeological tour of Johor!