Mudslide reveals mystery objects

Mudslide reveals mystery objects

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Mystery continues to shroud a number of apparently historical
objects that were found after a mudslide flushed out a trench of
over a kilometer in length in the middle of rice fields in the
Yogyakarta village of Ngestihardjo.

Villagers and local officials remain in the dark over the
origin and dates of the baffling finding. A small boat, black
balls with fuses popping out in what could be bombs, ammunition,
a keris, which is a traditional Javanese dagger, and a dragon
shaped stone were among the objects uncovered. The trench also
contained piles of bricks of an as yet unknown construction.

Local police took away the bombs and the ammunition, but
villagers placed the other objects on public display, making it
difficult for the Yogyakarta archeological office to examine
their origins.

Hundreds of onlookers from the city and surrounding areas
continue to flock to the site since its discovery on Thursday
last week.

Heavy rainfall broke a 20-meter-wide hole of an embankment,
causing water and mud to flush out the around one and a half
kilometer long trench. About 20 to 25 meters wide, it cuts
through a section of the rice fields and a street before ending
at the Bedog River. A small stream of water runs inside the deep
trench where locals found the objects.

Some of the objects, such as the boat, appear to be of a more
recent period, said Indra Dewa Kusuma, a staffer at the local
archeological office who was taking inventory of the finding.

The bricks, he said, could date back to the late 19th century
as there was once an artificial lake to irrigate the surrounding
rice fields and provide water for a nearby royal palace, a kraton
that has long been abandoned.

But Indra added that the bricks could come from an earlier
period, reasoning that the builders had used limestone as mortar
commonly found in much older construction.