Historical Treasure Troves Looted: West and Central Java

It appears that too many Indonesian farmers and the ilk have been watching Lara Cross and Tomb Raider recently. There have been two important archaeological finds this week in Central and West Java – both were looted.

The finds were in tombs in a rice field at Kendal Jaya village east of Jakarta, and the other in Sleman near Magelang in central Java.

In West Java, farmers have sold hundreds of gold artifacts stolen from skeletal corpses unearthed at a newly-found ancient burial complex. The skeletons had chains of gold rings around their necks, heads, hands, and feet.

They were buried with other accessories made of precious stones or gold as well as axes and other pottery articles. Between 15 and 25 people are estimated to have been buried at the site at a depth of only about 1.5 meters (five feet).

Archaeologists expressed concern at reports that hundreds of villagers have been selling gold necklaces and ornaments that they found at the site over the past week.

The newspaper, Seputar Indonesia, estimated that already hundreds of kilograms of gold ornaments and jewellery had been taken from the site.

“They shouldn’t have sold the findings, there are laws against it,” Peter Ferdinandus, from the ministry of education’s Archaeological Study, said. “We should quickly investigate this and stop what they’re doing. And if possible get back whatever has been sold off,” he said.

There has been no official announcement on the find and the archaeologist said that he only heard of it from the media.

Ferdinandus, who has worked on an archaeological site near the new finds since 1993, said that the graves could date from the Buni people who lived around the second century AD, roughly 1,800 to 1,900 years ago.

“In the Batu Jaya ancient temple site we found traces of the Buni people. Carbon dating results estimated the complex to be from around the second century AD,” he said.

There are 24 ancient Buddhist temples in the Batu Jaya complex.

Other findings thought to be from ancient temples were found in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces recently.

Local residents in Yogyakarta have reported finding statues of Buddha and of monkeys, lions, and religious symbols. Historical relics were discovered in Palgading hamlet in Sinduharjo village, Sleman regency, by a resident.

The relics, which included a Buddha statue, were found by Muqorobin while he was digging. The findings were taken to Yogyakarta’s archaeological agency office.

“I was digging a hole for a septic tank in my backyard when I hit a hard object that I thought was ordinary stone,” Muqorobin said.

“When I saw the statues I thought they must be of historical importance as many relics have previously been found in Palgading.”

Archaeological agency official Manggar Sariayuwati said it was estimated the relics dated back to an 8th or 9th century Buddhist kingdom.

And, an archaeological team working in Magelang district near Yogyakarta have also unearthed a site from the Mataram Kingdom dating back to the ninth century AD.

The site at Losari village is believed to possibly be even bigger than the famous Borobudur Buddhist monument near Yogyakarta city, which also dates back to around the ninth century.

The head of the Yogyakarta ancient heritage office, Manggar Sariayuwati, said that the findings were estimated to be dated from the eighth to the ninth century AD.

Java has many ancient sites dating back to the Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms that flourished from the seventh century onwards.

Source: JP and Reuters