2,000-year-old statue found in Bali

Antara/Denpasar

Local people have found an old statue made from tufa beneath the roots of a recently felled banyan tree in Astina Field, Gianyar regency.

The statue, estimated to be some 2,000 years old, is 35 centimeters high, 21 centimeters wide and 12 centimeters thick. It is now being kept for safekeeping in the Puri Agung Gianyar temple next to the Astina Field, Gianyar regency administration spokesman Ida Bagus Gaga Adi Saputra said on Friday.

Preliminary archaeological investigations have found that the statue was crafted between the 3rd and 2nd century B.C., said Saputra. The statue was found last week after local man I Wayan Sarma and some others felled the tree.

The statue, which appears to represent a priest, was then brought to the police, who reported the find to the local administration.

The director of the Denpasar Archaeological Office, Gde Oka Astawa, concluded that the statue dated from before the arrival of Hinduism in Bali as it had none of the characteristics of a Hindu statue. Normally, the figures represented by Hindu statues are holding sharp weapons. A similar statue was earlier found at the Melanting Temple, Tampaksiring, Gianyar regency, some 15 kilometers north of Astina Field, said Oka Astawa.