Archaeological preservation lacks funding<\/p>\n
Israr Ardiansyah, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Workers digging in a sugar cane field in Wonoboyo village in
\nKlaten regency made a sensational archaeological discovery,
\nfinding a buried container with hundreds of gold and silver
\nceremonial objects.<\/p>\n
The treasure, 12,436.8 grams of gold and 3,343.7 grams of
\nsilver, was only just the beginning. Weeks later, the workers
\nfound a jug containing 6,387 gold coins, weighing 15,576 grams.<\/p>\n
The sensational event took place 11 years ago, on Oct. 17,
\n1990. With a subsequent discovery in February 1991, the total
\namount of treasure collected from the 1.5-hectare field was some
\n32 kilograms of gold and silver -- the greatest discovery of
\nburied treasure in the country's history.<\/p>\n
The small village, only a few kilometers away from the
\nrenowned Prambanan temple, soon became a popular site, thanks to
\npoor farmer Wito Lakon and his neighbors, who eventually received
\nan award of more than Rp 200 million in cash from then president
\nSoeharto, for finding the ninth century treasure.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, the village is forgotten. The historical site of
\nWonoboyo has become history.<\/p>\n
Graduate of Gadjah Mada University's School of Archaeology,
\nAndreas Sujito, recalled it was hard for him to study the site,
\nas the farmers, who owned the land, had returned it to
\nagriculture in 1996.<\/p>\n
\"They had used tractors to plow the land. Although there
\nweren't any more significant discoveries in that location in the
\nyears after the excavations of 1990 and 1991, my personal opinion
\nwas that the government should have bought that historical site,\"
\nsaid Andreas, who conducted research into ceramics discoveries at
\nWonoboyo for his thesis.<\/p>\n
He said the Central Java office of Historical and
\nArcheological Heritage Preservation (SPSP-Central Java) had tried
\nto approach the farmers, whose land had been leased for years by
\nthe office for excavation purposes. But it seemed the farmers
\nneeded more, they wanted the government to make a definitive
\ndecision on whether to buy their land or not.<\/p>\n
Andreas said the greatest challenge to Indonesian
\narchaeologists was the shortage of funds to support research.<\/p>\n
Archaeologist Wahyu Indrasana, the head of SPSP Yogyakarta,
\nshared Andreas' opinion. He admitted the office had limited
\nresources to finance its activities.<\/p>\n
\"Despite our limitations, we always fight hard to save our
\narcheological sites, including asking the government to review
\nongoing projects that could disturb sites,\" Wahyu said.<\/p>\n
Harry Widianto, head of Yogyakarta's balai arkeologi
\n(archaeological center), which oversees sites in Yogyakarta,
\nCentral Java and East Java, said that financial problems had
\nforced the office to carefully prioritize its archeological
\nresearch.<\/p>\n
\"We have limited resources. That's why we work on the basis of
\na scale of priorities,\" he said. He added that the office, so
\nfar, had only been able to fund a total of 10 thematic research
\nprojects on archaeological sites in the three provinces this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Head of Central Java's SPSP Tri Hatmadji said there
\nhad been 156 fragments of cultural heritage significance lost in
\nthe province recently. \"Security for guarding high-value
\nhistorical items is far less than it should be, as we don't have
\nthe money to do full-time monitoring,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The authorities also acknowledged the limited financial
\nresources for the preservation of archeological sites. Director
\ngeneral for culture I Gede Ngurah Anom revealed, during a recent
\nscientific archaeological symposium here, that there were only
\nabout 300 restored archaeological sites, from a total of about
\n6,640 registered sites in Indonesia. \"We don't even have any
\nmoney for new site restoration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
How to deal with the situation?<\/p>\n
Timbul Haryono, a professor of archaeology, urged sensitivity
\ntoward the need to preserve cultural heritage.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he said, misunderstandings over Indonesian
\nhistorical sites had recurred with the present government, which
\nequated culture with tourism.<\/p>\n
\"The present government has included the word 'culture' in the
\nnondepartmental post of state minister of culture and tourism,\"
\nTimbul said.<\/p>\n
He explained that the preservation of Indonesia's cultural
\nheritage had priorities that differed to those of the tourism
\nindustry's commercial programs.<\/p>\n
\"If the government itself does not understand the substance or
\nthe difference (between culture and tourism), there is likely to
\nbe an even worse effect at the grassroots level,\" Timbul said.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the presence of Law No. 5\/1992 on cultural
\npreservation, but lamented the fact that policy makers still had
\na different vision.<\/p>\n
\"We need to establish a separate ministry of culture someday,
\nif we really want to develop the richness of our culture through
\nthe preservation of archaeological sites.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/archaeological-preservation-lacks-funding-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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