S20 ADVANCEMENTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN ROCK ART
19 June 2019, Galleria 3, 0830-1500 hours
Convener:Victoria N. Scott(victoria.scott.15@ucl.ac.uk) and Paul Taçon (p.tacon@griffith.edu.au)
Southeast Asia still remains one of the least understood regions of the world when it comes to rock art, especially in comparison to the more publicised rock art of Europe, Africa and Australia. Recent advances, however, have propelled Southeast Asian rock art onto the world stage, with new discoveries and dating, as well as diverse conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches, contesting and diversifying international debates on rock art. This panel showcases the various dimensions currently redefining rock art studies in Southeast Asia, including but not limited to:
Block 1: 0830-1000 hrs
Victoria N. Scott
University College London
victoria.scott.15@ucl.ac.uk
The visual primacy of rock art can at times blind researchers to the equally significant, but less obvious, non-visual aspects of rock art. We come to know ourselves and the external world via sensory perception – seeing, touching, hearing, tasting and smelling. Yet out of all of our senses, sight is held in absolute dominion as the “sense of all reason”. Over-reliance on a single sensory perception, however, has its dangers and can lead to a missed opportunity to comprehend concepts not understood through the visible, but channelled through the invisible. Experiential methods of analysis, such as phenomenology, acknowledges the multisensory qualities of our experiences, whether of landscapes or material culture, opening up the possibility of new and non-visual ways of apprehending the world and self. Its application to archaeological contexts and the landscape can be revealing, making visible sites of pilgrimage and sacred spaces, places and art.
By analysing a selection of rock art sites in Thailand and exploring the experiential qualities of their landscapes, the physical sites themselves and their images, this paper reveals the contribution such an application can have, not only to rock art studies in Thailand, but in Southeast Asia generally. It opens up a new and alternative approach to the study of rock art that until recently operated largely within a processualist framework of analysis.
Sorathach Rotchanarat
Fine Arts Department, Thailand
rotchanarats@gmail.com
The aim of this study is to discuss whether the pictographs of prehistoric people could be related to the practice of the sea people in present, by using ethnographical and historical approach. Various types of evidence including archaeological assemblage, historical accounts, and ethnographic data have been collected and discussed the way in which pictograph inform us about the ritual of ‘Urak Lawoi’ or the sea people mainly inhabiting in Ko Lanta Krabi Thailand. The ethnographic observation of the sea people’s ritual in ‘Ari pajak’ or floating miniature boat ceremony of Urak Lawoi found that they have similar significant figures with the depictions at Phi Hua To Cave and Viking Cave in Phangnga Bay Southern Thailand. It is suggested that the zoomorphic figures such as bird, snake, and shark from the prehistoric pictographs that might influences people in historic period to decorate the miniature boat with the bow in zoomorphic figures in their ritual ceremony.
Maung Maung Lwin
Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology
University of Mandalay, Myanmar
1972maungmaunglwin@gmail.com
Nwe Nwe Moe
Assistant Lecturer, Department of Archaeology
University of Mandalay, Myanmar
m.bomb19@gmail.com
Lwe Won Neolithic Rock Art is a type of open rock face located about one mile to the south of Lwe Won, a village standing on a hill-top in Pin Long Township, Southern Shan State. There are over 20 pictures but only 10 pictures remain in good condition, for they have been destroyed by men. Neolithic pictures on the rock were drawn in red and depict human and animal motifs. These pictures may represent the daily life of the Neolithic - the domestication and capture of animals at that time. Pictures on the upper rock face are in good condition but pictures from the lower part are covered with new drawings made by modern vandalism. The Neolithic rock paintings of Lwe Won are very rare and very important for the prehistoric archaeology of Myanmar, which needs to protected to sustain the countries cultural heritage. This paper is a preliminary study of Lwe Won Neolithic Rock Art.
Yun Wu
Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
461588798@qq.com
The Cangyuan area is located in southwest China, bordering Myanmar. Along the Lancang River (in the upper reaches of the Mekong) it is rich in archeological sites. Archaeologists have found evidence of human activity dating back to more than 40,000 years ago in Nongke Xiaodong Cave and Tanghe Cave (Zhenkang County), followed by sites dated to the Neolithic Period around 10,000 years ago and the Bronze Age about 3,700 years ago. This area has a treasure trove of rock art, all of which is found on cliffs of 1,000 to 2,500 meters above sea level. The rock art sites are located along valleys of Xiaoheijiang River and its tributaries, including Mengdong River and Yong’an River. Usually platforms were found under the rock art cliffs, supposedly for rituals. 74% of the recognized symbolic designs are feathers, horns, tails, ears and humans with feathered decoration, as well as animals (oxen, monkeys, bears, elephants, boars, birds, dogs and goats), treehouses, stilt houses, villages, sun, moon, trees, clouds, mountains, roads, bows, spears, shields and flying balls, covering all aspects of human life from hunting, domesticating, fighting, sacrificing to accommodation, migration, funerals and dancing. An analysis of style, subject-matter, syntax and content highlights the economic and social contexts of the community that made the rock art.
Block 2: 1030-1200 hrs
Jaratnapa Surinlert
Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Thailand
j.surinlert@outlook.com
Rock art imaginary have been found in different aspects such as anthropomorphic form, animals, and symbolic figures but the ritual image is scarcely found in rock painting sites. This study focuses on the comparative of ritual depictions in Southeast Asia. The author aims to identify different characteristics of depictions in order to understand more about cultural activity of prehistoric people. It is believed that rock paintings have been created for beliefs or ritual expressions which related to cultural practice. The comparative of ritual images represents the evidence of prehistoric beliefs and rituals, and how they related environmental landscape and archaeological evidences in Southeast Asia.
Pindi Setiawan
FSRD ITB
pindisp@gmail.com
Muhammad Laode Aksa
BPCB Makassar
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
Puslit Arkenas
Indonesia have more than 400 rock art sites located in 12 rock art complexes, and spread from west to east 5000 km. One of those complexes is Muna rock art site, in Southeast Sulawesi Province. Muna rock art have four types of images, the oldest are red hand stencils, then boat images, followed by pastoral images and then kite images. Today, all images of Muna (as well as in Indonesian rock art) are no longer produced by recent indigenes. Nevertheless, at Muna Island, recent indigenes have stories for the pastoral and kite images. The indigenous people of Muna today tell traditional stories of the rider for pastoral images, and the Kaghati leaf kite for the kite image.
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Balitbang, Kemdikbud
aaoktaviana@gmail.com
Shinatria Adhityatama
Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional
Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto
Balai Arkeologi Yogyakarta
Zubair Mas'ud
Balai Arkeologi Jayapura
Unggul Prasetyo Wibowo
Museum Geologi Bandung
Pindi Setiawan
Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Geographically Misool Islands considered as a bridge navigation by the sailors from Seram Island towards Papua land in the past. Documentation of rock art in the region of Misool Island, Raja Ampat archipelago, the Province of West Papua has reported since the 17th century, more precisely in 1887, then the study of rock art in this area are developed in last ten years including maritime cultures in this area. The recent research in this area has done by Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional in 2014, 2016 and 2018. At least we could uncover more than a thousand images of rock art, including hand stencils, human figures, marine fauna, boats and geometric images, spreading in morethan fifty (50) sites lay on karst cliffs, rock shelters and caves. The analysis for this research is related to the social meaning of the rock art. In addition also the analysis of the rock art try to relate to Austronesian culture and maritime culture in this area. The result of this research will expand knowledge for the development of maritime research associated with Austronesian culture.
Karina Arifin
Universitas Indonesia
karina_arifin@yahoo.com
R. Cecep Eka Permana
The existence of rock art in Indonesia were mostly reported from the eastern parts of the archipelago. Until early 1990s it is commonly accepted that rock art was only found in the eastern part of Indonesia. However, for the last thirty years, recent research and rock art complexes has been done and many new rock art complexes have been revealed new evidence, even those from the western part of Sulawesi which previously known as the western boundary of rock art sites in Indonesia. These areas are Kalimantan and Sumatera. Uranium series dates obtained from a number of sites from East Kalimantan have revealed very early dates with the earliest appearing between 52,000 and 40,000 years ago. Such early dates were also produced by rock art in Maros caves of Sulawesi, with the oldest appearing 40,000 years ago.
Unlike East Kalimantan, the newly discovered sites from West Sumatra and Jambi Provinces in Sumatera provide a corpora of quite recent rock art. These sites revealed paintings that consisted mainly of black and white pigment as well as engraving, and largely represented by geometric and anthropomorphic motifs. Although many motifs showed resemblance with other rock art sites in Indonesia, but the motifs represented and their contexts as well as the pigment used strongly indicated the rock art must have been produced recently.
This paper will discuss the presumed recent appearance of these rock art by elucidating their characteristics and contexts and comparing each other, including those found in Malaysia which also belonged to a recent period.
Block 3: 1330-1500 hrs
Rr. Triwurjani
Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, Research Center for National Archeology
demplon1@yahoo.com
Much rock art in the form of reliefs are found in open spaces of Pasemah Megalithic area, South Sumatra. Images with human faces are found on cliffs or big rocks standing upright in Jarakan Village, Lahat Regency; dan Tebat Gunung Pagar Alam Regency on the fracture of the river floor and the waterfall; and also on stone plates where two human figures were pictured carrying a kettledrum with animal figures on the bottom in Air Puar Village, Lahat. The problem is that the rock art which is usually pictured in pre-historic caves like hand prints, boats, animals and men and/or in the form of symbols, is also found outside the cave area – although the shape and technique applied is different. There is a possibility that the surroundings had an effect on the technique applied in creating the rock art. What factors influenced these techniques? This research was conducted to find out the determinant factors that caused the location and the form of rock art, which also influenced ways of life. The method applied in this research are description, analogy and contextual analysis. The results show that some determinant factors are myth, geography and level of technology. At least this has been proved by Pasemah culture in South Sumatra.
Key words: human face reliefs, symbols, surroundings, megalithic, Pasemah, South Sumatra.
Gambaran tersebut antara lain terdapat di tebing/bukit batu besar yang berdiri tegak berupa wajah manusia, di Desa Jarakan, Kabupaten Lahat; dan Desa Tebat Gunung Pagar Alam di bagian patahan yang menjadi dasar sungai dan air terjun; maupun pada lempengan batu dimana digambarkan dua figur manusia membawa nekara dengan figur hewan di bawahnya di Desa Air Puar, Lahat. Permasalahannya adalah seni cadas yang biasa digambarkan di gua-gua prasejarah seperti cap tangan, perahu, hewan, manusia, dan atau merupakan suatu simbol, terdapat pula di luar bentang lahan gua, meskipun bentuk, teknik yang diterapkannya juga berbeda. Apakah lingkungan juga mempengaruhi teknik pembuatan seni cadas sedemikian rupa, meskipun sebenarnya kedua teknik tersebut dapat diterapkan di masing-masing lokasi. Faktor-faktor apa yang mempengaruhi hal tersebut. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui adakah faktor-faktor penentu yang menyebabkan perbedaan lokasi dan bentuk seni cadas yang juga mempengaruhi cara-cara hidup. Metode yang dilakukan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskripsi, analogi dan analisis kontekstual. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan beberapa faktor penentu adalah kepercayaan, geogarfi dan tingkat teknologi. Setidaknya hal ini sudah dibuktikan oleh pendukung budaya Pasemah, Sumatera Selatan.
Kata kunci: relief wajah manusia, simbol, lingkungan, megalitik, Pasemah, Sumatera Selatan.
Roxanne Tsang
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea.
roxtsang92@gmail.com
William Pleiber
Archaeology, UFR Histoire de l'art et archéologie, Université Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France
william.pleiber@aliceadsl.fr
Jason Kariwiga
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea
jkariwiga@gmail.com
Sebastien Plutniak
École française de Rome, Roma, Italy
sebastien.plutniak@ehess.fr
Hubert Forestier
Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, UMR 7194 CNRS-MNHN-UPVD, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, France
hubforestier@gmail.com
Francois-Xavier Ricaut
CNRS UMR 5174, Laboratory Evolution and Biological Diversity, Toulouse, France
francois-xavier.ricaut@univ-tlse3.fr
Matthew G Leavesley
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea
College of Arts, Society & Education, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4811, Australia
matthew.leavesley@gmail.com
Since the 1960s, patrol officers, anthropologists and archaeologists have identified evidence of a pre-contact trading networks between New Guinea and the Torres Strait. Current research in the Lower Sepik River Basin reported various ethnographic descriptions relating to the important cultural material objects stencilled on various rock art sites in Awim as part of the broader Papuan Past Project, a collaboration between the University of Toulouse and the University of Papua New Guinea. Significantly, the Awim area is part of the Lower Sepik River Basin which contains a series of rock art sites, nominated by the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. In addition to the rock art, the area has one of the most environmentally intact fresh water basins with lowland rainforests and in Melanesia, famous for its architectural carvings and spirit houses. This presentation reports the new research that articulates local ethnographic knowledge about rock art with the art work itself. The rock art panels contain a wide range of stencils primarily consisting of hands but importantly, also including a number of other objects. One such object is the kina shell. The kina shell perhaps indicates the remarkable distance over which it was traded and traditionally used. The Awim case study is important because it is one of the relatively few sites across PNG for which we still have ethnography and therefore provides us with important insight to past rock art practises and concurrently notions of cultural continuity.
Ipak Fahriani
Archaeological Research Office, Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, North Sulawesi
fahriani.ipak@yahoo.com
The Spread of megalithic archaeological remains pretty much found in Minahasa, one area that has the spread of megalithic high enough are in the North of Minahasa. Megalithic remains found in Minahasa such as menhir (tumotowa stone), the altar stone, dolmen, stone mortar, and stone coffin known as waruga. The Waruga or stone coffin is found only in the region of Minahasa. The waruga motifs or ornaments are usually placed on the part of the container and its coverage with painting and carving techniques. The depiction of the motif has some specific meaning and significance, both as the symbol of belief grows within the community and as well as symbolizing the ancient aesthetic elements, as well as a symbol of the social status of the buried people. The ornamental patterns sculptured or portrayed on waruga found in Minahasa are expected to provide knowledge about the culture and art flourished during the Megalithic culture. It can also be retrieved as a cultural activities and description occurred in the region of Minahasa in the past.
Keywords: Waruga, motif, symbols and beliefs, aesthetics.
Paul S.C. Taçon
Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
p.tacon@griffith.edu.au
Visiting rock art sites is increasingly being shown to have positive effects on health and well-being for visitors. But what of the health and well-being of the sites themselves? Across Southeast Asia there are a range of sites open for public visitation with widely variable infrastructure, management strategies, custodial arrangements and funding. Management and conservation plans are rare as are long-term monitoring programs. However, sites remain popular with tourists and often are a source of national pride. In this paper these issues are explored with examples from various Southeast Asian countries and case studies from Sarawak, Malaysia where an ongoing collaborative research program has been underway since 2010.
Convener:Victoria N. Scott(victoria.scott.15@ucl.ac.uk) and Paul Taçon (p.tacon@griffith.edu.au)
Southeast Asia still remains one of the least understood regions of the world when it comes to rock art, especially in comparison to the more publicised rock art of Europe, Africa and Australia. Recent advances, however, have propelled Southeast Asian rock art onto the world stage, with new discoveries and dating, as well as diverse conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches, contesting and diversifying international debates on rock art. This panel showcases the various dimensions currently redefining rock art studies in Southeast Asia, including but not limited to:
- New site and image discoveries, as well as new age estimates.
- New conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches.
- Anthropological/ethnographic insights.
- Migration theories and rock art.
- Conservation and management strategies.
- Application of new and emerging technologies.
Block 1: 0830-1000 hrs
Rock Art Studies in Southeast Asia: Time to move on?
Victoria N. Scott
University College London
victoria.scott.15@ucl.ac.uk
The visual primacy of rock art can at times blind researchers to the equally significant, but less obvious, non-visual aspects of rock art. We come to know ourselves and the external world via sensory perception – seeing, touching, hearing, tasting and smelling. Yet out of all of our senses, sight is held in absolute dominion as the “sense of all reason”. Over-reliance on a single sensory perception, however, has its dangers and can lead to a missed opportunity to comprehend concepts not understood through the visible, but channelled through the invisible. Experiential methods of analysis, such as phenomenology, acknowledges the multisensory qualities of our experiences, whether of landscapes or material culture, opening up the possibility of new and non-visual ways of apprehending the world and self. Its application to archaeological contexts and the landscape can be revealing, making visible sites of pilgrimage and sacred spaces, places and art.
By analysing a selection of rock art sites in Thailand and exploring the experiential qualities of their landscapes, the physical sites themselves and their images, this paper reveals the contribution such an application can have, not only to rock art studies in Thailand, but in Southeast Asia generally. It opens up a new and alternative approach to the study of rock art that until recently operated largely within a processualist framework of analysis.
The Rock Art and Ritual of the Sea People at Ko Lanta Island
Sorathach Rotchanarat
Fine Arts Department, Thailand
rotchanarats@gmail.com
The aim of this study is to discuss whether the pictographs of prehistoric people could be related to the practice of the sea people in present, by using ethnographical and historical approach. Various types of evidence including archaeological assemblage, historical accounts, and ethnographic data have been collected and discussed the way in which pictograph inform us about the ritual of ‘Urak Lawoi’ or the sea people mainly inhabiting in Ko Lanta Krabi Thailand. The ethnographic observation of the sea people’s ritual in ‘Ari pajak’ or floating miniature boat ceremony of Urak Lawoi found that they have similar significant figures with the depictions at Phi Hua To Cave and Viking Cave in Phangnga Bay Southern Thailand. It is suggested that the zoomorphic figures such as bird, snake, and shark from the prehistoric pictographs that might influences people in historic period to decorate the miniature boat with the bow in zoomorphic figures in their ritual ceremony.
Preliminary Study on Lwe Won Neolithic Rock Art in Myanmar
Maung Maung Lwin
Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology
University of Mandalay, Myanmar
1972maungmaunglwin@gmail.com
Nwe Nwe Moe
Assistant Lecturer, Department of Archaeology
University of Mandalay, Myanmar
m.bomb19@gmail.com
Lwe Won Neolithic Rock Art is a type of open rock face located about one mile to the south of Lwe Won, a village standing on a hill-top in Pin Long Township, Southern Shan State. There are over 20 pictures but only 10 pictures remain in good condition, for they have been destroyed by men. Neolithic pictures on the rock were drawn in red and depict human and animal motifs. These pictures may represent the daily life of the Neolithic - the domestication and capture of animals at that time. Pictures on the upper rock face are in good condition but pictures from the lower part are covered with new drawings made by modern vandalism. The Neolithic rock paintings of Lwe Won are very rare and very important for the prehistoric archaeology of Myanmar, which needs to protected to sustain the countries cultural heritage. This paper is a preliminary study of Lwe Won Neolithic Rock Art.
Economic and Social Contexts of Cangyuan Rock Art, Southwest China
Yun Wu
Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
461588798@qq.com
The Cangyuan area is located in southwest China, bordering Myanmar. Along the Lancang River (in the upper reaches of the Mekong) it is rich in archeological sites. Archaeologists have found evidence of human activity dating back to more than 40,000 years ago in Nongke Xiaodong Cave and Tanghe Cave (Zhenkang County), followed by sites dated to the Neolithic Period around 10,000 years ago and the Bronze Age about 3,700 years ago. This area has a treasure trove of rock art, all of which is found on cliffs of 1,000 to 2,500 meters above sea level. The rock art sites are located along valleys of Xiaoheijiang River and its tributaries, including Mengdong River and Yong’an River. Usually platforms were found under the rock art cliffs, supposedly for rituals. 74% of the recognized symbolic designs are feathers, horns, tails, ears and humans with feathered decoration, as well as animals (oxen, monkeys, bears, elephants, boars, birds, dogs and goats), treehouses, stilt houses, villages, sun, moon, trees, clouds, mountains, roads, bows, spears, shields and flying balls, covering all aspects of human life from hunting, domesticating, fighting, sacrificing to accommodation, migration, funerals and dancing. An analysis of style, subject-matter, syntax and content highlights the economic and social contexts of the community that made the rock art.
Block 2: 1030-1200 hrs
Ritual Depictions in Southeast Asian Rock Art
Jaratnapa Surinlert
Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Thailand
j.surinlert@outlook.com
Rock art imaginary have been found in different aspects such as anthropomorphic form, animals, and symbolic figures but the ritual image is scarcely found in rock painting sites. This study focuses on the comparative of ritual depictions in Southeast Asia. The author aims to identify different characteristics of depictions in order to understand more about cultural activity of prehistoric people. It is believed that rock paintings have been created for beliefs or ritual expressions which related to cultural practice. The comparative of ritual images represents the evidence of prehistoric beliefs and rituals, and how they related environmental landscape and archaeological evidences in Southeast Asia.
Indigenous interpretations of Muna rock art images
Pindi Setiawan
FSRD ITB
pindisp@gmail.com
Muhammad Laode Aksa
BPCB Makassar
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
Puslit Arkenas
Indonesia have more than 400 rock art sites located in 12 rock art complexes, and spread from west to east 5000 km. One of those complexes is Muna rock art site, in Southeast Sulawesi Province. Muna rock art have four types of images, the oldest are red hand stencils, then boat images, followed by pastoral images and then kite images. Today, all images of Muna (as well as in Indonesian rock art) are no longer produced by recent indigenes. Nevertheless, at Muna Island, recent indigenes have stories for the pastoral and kite images. The indigenous people of Muna today tell traditional stories of the rider for pastoral images, and the Kaghati leaf kite for the kite image.
Recent Rock Art Studies in Misool Islands, Raja Ampat, West Papua
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Balitbang, Kemdikbud
aaoktaviana@gmail.com
Shinatria Adhityatama
Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional
Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto
Balai Arkeologi Yogyakarta
Zubair Mas'ud
Balai Arkeologi Jayapura
Unggul Prasetyo Wibowo
Museum Geologi Bandung
Pindi Setiawan
Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Geographically Misool Islands considered as a bridge navigation by the sailors from Seram Island towards Papua land in the past. Documentation of rock art in the region of Misool Island, Raja Ampat archipelago, the Province of West Papua has reported since the 17th century, more precisely in 1887, then the study of rock art in this area are developed in last ten years including maritime cultures in this area. The recent research in this area has done by Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional in 2014, 2016 and 2018. At least we could uncover more than a thousand images of rock art, including hand stencils, human figures, marine fauna, boats and geometric images, spreading in morethan fifty (50) sites lay on karst cliffs, rock shelters and caves. The analysis for this research is related to the social meaning of the rock art. In addition also the analysis of the rock art try to relate to Austronesian culture and maritime culture in this area. The result of this research will expand knowledge for the development of maritime research associated with Austronesian culture.
Recent Rock Art Sites from Sumatera
Karina Arifin
Universitas Indonesia
karina_arifin@yahoo.com
R. Cecep Eka Permana
The existence of rock art in Indonesia were mostly reported from the eastern parts of the archipelago. Until early 1990s it is commonly accepted that rock art was only found in the eastern part of Indonesia. However, for the last thirty years, recent research and rock art complexes has been done and many new rock art complexes have been revealed new evidence, even those from the western part of Sulawesi which previously known as the western boundary of rock art sites in Indonesia. These areas are Kalimantan and Sumatera. Uranium series dates obtained from a number of sites from East Kalimantan have revealed very early dates with the earliest appearing between 52,000 and 40,000 years ago. Such early dates were also produced by rock art in Maros caves of Sulawesi, with the oldest appearing 40,000 years ago.
Unlike East Kalimantan, the newly discovered sites from West Sumatra and Jambi Provinces in Sumatera provide a corpora of quite recent rock art. These sites revealed paintings that consisted mainly of black and white pigment as well as engraving, and largely represented by geometric and anthropomorphic motifs. Although many motifs showed resemblance with other rock art sites in Indonesia, but the motifs represented and their contexts as well as the pigment used strongly indicated the rock art must have been produced recently.
This paper will discuss the presumed recent appearance of these rock art by elucidating their characteristics and contexts and comparing each other, including those found in Malaysia which also belonged to a recent period.
Block 3: 1330-1500 hrs
Human Face Reliefs in Rock Art, Pasemah Megalithic, South Sumatera | Seni Cadas dalam bentuk relief di ruang terbuka banyak ditemukan di Kawasan Megalitik Pasemah, Sumatera Selatan
Rr. Triwurjani
Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, Research Center for National Archeology
demplon1@yahoo.com
Much rock art in the form of reliefs are found in open spaces of Pasemah Megalithic area, South Sumatra. Images with human faces are found on cliffs or big rocks standing upright in Jarakan Village, Lahat Regency; dan Tebat Gunung Pagar Alam Regency on the fracture of the river floor and the waterfall; and also on stone plates where two human figures were pictured carrying a kettledrum with animal figures on the bottom in Air Puar Village, Lahat. The problem is that the rock art which is usually pictured in pre-historic caves like hand prints, boats, animals and men and/or in the form of symbols, is also found outside the cave area – although the shape and technique applied is different. There is a possibility that the surroundings had an effect on the technique applied in creating the rock art. What factors influenced these techniques? This research was conducted to find out the determinant factors that caused the location and the form of rock art, which also influenced ways of life. The method applied in this research are description, analogy and contextual analysis. The results show that some determinant factors are myth, geography and level of technology. At least this has been proved by Pasemah culture in South Sumatra.
Key words: human face reliefs, symbols, surroundings, megalithic, Pasemah, South Sumatra.
Gambaran tersebut antara lain terdapat di tebing/bukit batu besar yang berdiri tegak berupa wajah manusia, di Desa Jarakan, Kabupaten Lahat; dan Desa Tebat Gunung Pagar Alam di bagian patahan yang menjadi dasar sungai dan air terjun; maupun pada lempengan batu dimana digambarkan dua figur manusia membawa nekara dengan figur hewan di bawahnya di Desa Air Puar, Lahat. Permasalahannya adalah seni cadas yang biasa digambarkan di gua-gua prasejarah seperti cap tangan, perahu, hewan, manusia, dan atau merupakan suatu simbol, terdapat pula di luar bentang lahan gua, meskipun bentuk, teknik yang diterapkannya juga berbeda. Apakah lingkungan juga mempengaruhi teknik pembuatan seni cadas sedemikian rupa, meskipun sebenarnya kedua teknik tersebut dapat diterapkan di masing-masing lokasi. Faktor-faktor apa yang mempengaruhi hal tersebut. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui adakah faktor-faktor penentu yang menyebabkan perbedaan lokasi dan bentuk seni cadas yang juga mempengaruhi cara-cara hidup. Metode yang dilakukan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskripsi, analogi dan analisis kontekstual. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan beberapa faktor penentu adalah kepercayaan, geogarfi dan tingkat teknologi. Setidaknya hal ini sudah dibuktikan oleh pendukung budaya Pasemah, Sumatera Selatan.
Kata kunci: relief wajah manusia, simbol, lingkungan, megalitik, Pasemah, Sumatera Selatan.
Rock art and long-distance prehistoric exchange behaviour: A Case Study from Awim, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Roxanne Tsang
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea.
roxtsang92@gmail.com
William Pleiber
Archaeology, UFR Histoire de l'art et archéologie, Université Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France
william.pleiber@aliceadsl.fr
Jason Kariwiga
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea
jkariwiga@gmail.com
Sebastien Plutniak
École française de Rome, Roma, Italy
sebastien.plutniak@ehess.fr
Hubert Forestier
Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, UMR 7194 CNRS-MNHN-UPVD, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, France
hubforestier@gmail.com
Francois-Xavier Ricaut
CNRS UMR 5174, Laboratory Evolution and Biological Diversity, Toulouse, France
francois-xavier.ricaut@univ-tlse3.fr
Matthew G Leavesley
Archaeology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea
College of Arts, Society & Education, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4811, Australia
matthew.leavesley@gmail.com
Since the 1960s, patrol officers, anthropologists and archaeologists have identified evidence of a pre-contact trading networks between New Guinea and the Torres Strait. Current research in the Lower Sepik River Basin reported various ethnographic descriptions relating to the important cultural material objects stencilled on various rock art sites in Awim as part of the broader Papuan Past Project, a collaboration between the University of Toulouse and the University of Papua New Guinea. Significantly, the Awim area is part of the Lower Sepik River Basin which contains a series of rock art sites, nominated by the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. In addition to the rock art, the area has one of the most environmentally intact fresh water basins with lowland rainforests and in Melanesia, famous for its architectural carvings and spirit houses. This presentation reports the new research that articulates local ethnographic knowledge about rock art with the art work itself. The rock art panels contain a wide range of stencils primarily consisting of hands but importantly, also including a number of other objects. One such object is the kina shell. The kina shell perhaps indicates the remarkable distance over which it was traded and traditionally used. The Awim case study is important because it is one of the relatively few sites across PNG for which we still have ethnography and therefore provides us with important insight to past rock art practises and concurrently notions of cultural continuity.
The Ornaments Variations of Megalithic Stone Coffin (Waruga) In North Minahasa, Indonesia
Ipak Fahriani
Archaeological Research Office, Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, North Sulawesi
fahriani.ipak@yahoo.com
The Spread of megalithic archaeological remains pretty much found in Minahasa, one area that has the spread of megalithic high enough are in the North of Minahasa. Megalithic remains found in Minahasa such as menhir (tumotowa stone), the altar stone, dolmen, stone mortar, and stone coffin known as waruga. The Waruga or stone coffin is found only in the region of Minahasa. The waruga motifs or ornaments are usually placed on the part of the container and its coverage with painting and carving techniques. The depiction of the motif has some specific meaning and significance, both as the symbol of belief grows within the community and as well as symbolizing the ancient aesthetic elements, as well as a symbol of the social status of the buried people. The ornamental patterns sculptured or portrayed on waruga found in Minahasa are expected to provide knowledge about the culture and art flourished during the Megalithic culture. It can also be retrieved as a cultural activities and description occurred in the region of Minahasa in the past.
Keywords: Waruga, motif, symbols and beliefs, aesthetics.
Preserving Southeast Asian rock art tourist sites for future generations
Paul S.C. Taçon
Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University
p.tacon@griffith.edu.au
Visiting rock art sites is increasingly being shown to have positive effects on health and well-being for visitors. But what of the health and well-being of the sites themselves? Across Southeast Asia there are a range of sites open for public visitation with widely variable infrastructure, management strategies, custodial arrangements and funding. Management and conservation plans are rare as are long-term monitoring programs. However, sites remain popular with tourists and often are a source of national pride. In this paper these issues are explored with examples from various Southeast Asian countries and case studies from Sarawak, Malaysia where an ongoing collaborative research program has been underway since 2010.
Facebook: