Bukit Choras Discovery Sheds Light on Malaysia’s Trade History

via Al Jazeera, 10 March 2024: In Bukit Choras, Malaysia, archaeologists uncovered a 1,200-year-old Buddhist stupa, indicating the area’s historic role as a multicultural trading hub. This find in the Bujang Valley, distinct for its preservation and isolated location, suggests connections to ancient Southeast Asian trade routes and cultures, including Java, Sumatra, and India. The discovery includes significant artifacts like two well-preserved stucco Buddha statues, offering new insights into the region’s complex history and cultural diversity.

The 1,200-year-old Buddhist stupa of Bukit Choras was discovered last August in Malaysia’s Bujang Valley – a river basin scattered with several clusters of protohistoric sites in the country’s northwestern Kedah state.

The stupa is the best preserved in the country and experts say it could hold the key to Malaysia’s long history of multiculturalism.

“This site is an anomaly because it stands all by itself,” Nasha Rodziadi Khaw told Al Jazeera. Nasha is the chief researcher of the team from the University of Science Malaysia’s Global Archaeology Research Centre (CGAR) in the northwestern island of Penang, who supervised the excavation between August 28 and September 12 last year.

Bukit Choras is situated near the small town of Yan on Kedah’s southern coast about 370km north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Source: Ancient find reveals new evidence of Malaysia’s multicultural past | History News | Al Jazeera