Gunungkidul had pre-historic past

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): An integrated archeological study of the Gunungkidul area, conducted since 1998 in the Gunungbang hamlet, some 50 kilometers east of Yogyakarta, indicates that the region may have been the capital city of a pre-historic age.

"The finding of stone coffins and human bones prove that the area has been occupied by human beings since the Stone Age, or 1.8 million years ago," said Susetya Edy Yuwono, coordinator of the integrated study team of the Gunungkidul archeological area.

"As the number of coffins and bones found are huge, Gunungkidul, which is known as a dry area, could probably have been a capital city in the pre-historic age," Susetya, who is also a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM)'s School of Archeology, added.

Covering an area of 1,485.36 square kilometers, 46 percent of the total Yogyakarta province area, Gunungkidul regency is divided into 15 districts with a population of some 750,000 people.

Almost half of the districts are located in the southern part of the regency, which is well known for being arid and barren.

The rest are located in the center and northern parts of the regency, made more fertile by the Oya River, a pre-historic river, flowing through the area.

The river begins in Wonogiri (Central Java) and ends in Samudera Indonesia. It does not irrigate the southern part of Gunungkidul though because it flows underground, just after passing through the central part of the regency.

Gunungbang, a hamlet in Bejiharjo village in the Karangmojo district, is one of many pre-historic burial sites found in the region. The site has been well known since 1934, when a Dutchman named Th. Van de Hoop conducted an archeological study, as a follow-up study to a report made by another Dutchman named J.L. Moens.

UGM's School of Archeology was interested in continuing the study there in 1998, to develop a more comprehensive history of the region.

Geographically, the Gunungbang site is located near similar sites at Ngawis and Gondang, 1.5 kilometers south of Gunungbang, and Sokoliman, one kilometer north of it.

"The closeness between each site further convinces me that my hypothesis about Gunungkidul as a pre-historic capital city has a strong basis," said Susetya.

Artifacts uncovered in Gunungbang include stone coffins, ceramic fragments, metal fragments and beads. Among the ceramic fragments found were stoneware porcelains and pure porcelains, which were obviously not made locally. The team's analysis showed the ceramic fragments came from the Chinese Yuan Dynasty (1260- 1369) and Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Based on the findings, according to Susetya, Gunungbang suggests two possibilities.

First, the ceramic fragments were part of the burial ceremony. Should this be the case, it shows that burials at Gunungbang site had a pre-historic tradition which continued until much younger periods. Second, if the ceramics were not part of the burial system, the existence of the ceramics found at the site indicates the mobility of past communities.

Other artifacts found include the fragments of iron tools such as knives, spade points and sickles. Those items were daily tools used in or around the site. The fact that the tools were found at the coffins showed that a transformation of function had occurred.

"They (the iron tools) are the remains of the bronze iron age, some 2,000 years ago up to the early years of the Christian age," Susetya said.

The team also found the remains of temples, constructed from andesite rock, around the three sites of Gunungbang, Ngawis and Sokoliman. They noted that the foundations of the temple discovered at the Ngawi site are wider than the others.

"Such a fact indicates the complexity of the settlement and the relationship among the communities," Susetya said.

A floor of 80 square meters made of natural white rock was also found in one of the yards belonging to a local resident.

According to Harjo, the yard's owner, the rock was already there when he was born. The rock is just the same type as the team has found in the nearby dry river basin. The difference between the two rocks is that the type found in the river basin is thicker. "Both the rocks were formed through natural processes," Susetya explained.

It was also in Harjo's yard that the team found charcoal, kitchenware fragments and square beliung, having the attributes of remains of the Neolithic Age, or between 6,000 to 2,000 years ago. They were found 80-90 centimeters below the ground. In the same area, the team also found other stone-made items possessing characteristics of the Paleolithic Age (1.8 million years ago).

Far from the three sites, in Playen district, a similar stone grave site, along with its burial ornaments, was also found. The team even found pigs' ribs and cows' teeth. According to Susetya, pigs and cows were pet animals, and used as part of the burial ornaments.

A stone coffin filled with the remains of 22 people was also found in Playen. In Gunungbang, however, the team only found a stone coffin with the remains of three individuals. One set of remains belonged to a child, while the other two belonged to adults.

"We cannot yet make a conclusion regarding this theory. One thing is for sure though, many people did live in this area during the pre-historic era. The characteristics of the burials belongs to pre-historic life," Susetya said.

The team has also concluded that dense population did not just exist in the so-called Wonosari Basin area, in the central and northern parts of the region. They believe that the southern part of the Seribu Mountain range -- which is dry and barren, extending up to the East Javanese town of Pacitan -- was also a dense settlement area in the pre-historic age. Only, Susetya said, those living in this dry and barren area were a nomadic community, mostly hunters.

Such a belief is derived from archeological evidence found in the area. Apart from the human remains, spear points and stoneware tools were also found in the caves along the mountain. All of the caves where archeological evidence was found face towards the beach. The archeological evidence shows that people had lived there since the Mesolithic Age, or about 10,000 years ago.