Old artifacts used to build Surakarta houses

By Tjahjono Ep

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): Large stones sprawl about the hamlets of Ngasinan, Kedung Sari, Gondang and Bodagan, in the Matesih subdistrict. Some stones stand in a certain formation while others stand alone.

The stones are on agricultural land and, to the untrained eye, look nothing special. The villagers take them for granted and never question why the stones are there.

Many have removed them to clear the land for farming. Others break the boulders in order to build houses.

Few are aware that the "stone farms" are in fact artifacts, a milestone of human civilization dating back thousands of years. There have been no detailed historical documents concerning the area but according to the locals a scientific study was conducted "during the Dutch colonial times."

A report released by the local Office of National Heritage and Archeology says there were 118 stone monuments in 1970 in the area. Among them were pelinggih, or a throne-shaped structure believed to be used as a place to present offerings in a religious ritual. The report also mentions that a two-meter monument (menhir) on Mangadeg Hill in the hamlet of Ngasinan is missing.

Nowadays, scenic Mangadeg Hill is better known as the site where former despot Soeharto built a family mausoleum. His late wife, Ibu Tien Soeharto is buried there.

Intact monuments are found mostly in areas which are confined by some 100 square meters of barbed wire. Most of the boulders outside these areas have been disturbed or even removed.

Excavation experts in the area have theorized that the black stones were the legacy of people in the old megalithic period. They call the area the Mangadeg or Watukandang site.

An archeologist from Yogyakarta who conducted a study in 1968, Teguh Asmar, shot down the long-held presumption that the site was a megalithic cemetery.

Teguh's excavation under a group of stones forming a square ended up striking a piece of ceramic. Seventy five centimeters underneath, another circular stone formation was found containing eight beads and several ceramic pots. No bones were discovered in either location.

The findings gave rise to a new theory that Watukandang was a place of worship. Teguh said that in the megalithic period, people strongly believed that the dead and the living were closely related. People worshiped the spirits of the deceased, asking for blessings, such as for fertile land.

People of that period usually built stone monuments in adoration of the spirit of the dead. The structure was believed to be the place where the dead and the living met and communicated.

While new evidence has yet to be discovered, the stone monuments are under a serious threat because the historical site does not receive proper attention from the Central Java officials in charge of preservation.

An official from the local archeology office, Maryanto, said ignorant villagers wanting to farm the land had removed many of the artifacts and other items and used them, in place of bricks, to build houses.

"They never bothered to ask why those large stones were there," he said.

An archeologist from Sanata Dharma University of Yogyakarta, H.B. Hery Santoso, said that the Central Java office of archeology had left the historical site in a state of neglect.

"Of course funding is always the main problem, but why should the lack of money have to sacrifice historical sites like this?" he questioned.

Hery said he knew people would not work as guards of the historical site because the money offered was just too small to rely on for daily necessities. They become farmers instead.

Surakarta and its surrounding areas are well-known for its richness in archeological heritage. Experts have found remains of prehistoric humans in areas near the Bengawan Solo River.

Critics say that the government pays attention only to major historical sites which generates money, such as the Borobudur and Prambanan temples, while it neglects lesser ones.