New interest in an older Lembah Bujang

By Subhadra Devan


ONCE upon a time, a maritime voyager set sail from India and, when passing through the Straits of Malacca, decided to stop at what is today Kuala Muda, Kedah.

He started a village in the area, northwest of Sungai Petani — Lem - bah Bujang.

His efforts — in the wider area of Lembah Bujang (or Bujang Valley as it is called internationally) known as Sungai Batu — have, so far, been revealed by excavated jetty remains, iron smelting sites, and a clay brick monument dating back to 110AD — the oldest man-made structure to be recorded in Southeast Asia.

“It points to an advanced culture predating most of the Indianised kingdoms in Southeast Asia,” said the director of the Gujarat State Archaeology Department, Yadubirsingh Rawat.

“Yes, my tale of the sailor is fanciful,” he said.

“But that’s all we have right now.

There is a lot of work to be done before the whole story can emerge.

“This is one of the most important finds in Southeast Asia these past few decades, because now there is indisputable evidence that international trading activities had taken place here in that period of time.” The recent finds indicate that the L em ba h Bujang civilisation existed long before neighbouring empires such as Majapahit (1200AD) and Sri Vijaya (700AD).

Rawat said: “The settlers also had full knowledge of iron smelting and jetty construction.

“This means they were an evolved people, with connections to other places in the world.

“The discovery shows that the Bujang Valley is very important in terms of understanding maritime trade, migration and early civilisation in the reg ion,” he said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Lembah Bujang and Early Civilisation in Southeast Asia recently.

The conference, from July 3 to 5, saw the presentation of more than 20 papers by Rawat as well as 23 scholars from Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, China, India, the United States and Britain.

It was jointly organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) and the National Heritage Department, in the wake of recent finds in the area.

THE SITE The recent Lembah Bujang f inds add to the many others excavated at the site over the decades. In fact, the total number of sites found in Lembah Bujang and around Gunung Jerai since the 1840s now totals 172.

Part of the area is owned by plantation owner Teoh Guang Huat.

Earlier finds have included Buddhist statues, beads, knives, figurines and trade items indicating connections between China and India, and some 50 candi or tomb temples.

The most famous tomb temple is Candi Batu Pahat , dated 1,000 years ago, near the Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum.

THE FINDS A team from CGAR surveyed Sungai Batu in 2007 and in early February last year.

It unearthed the latest monument find as well as pottery shards, knives, beads and a stone tablet with a Pallava- Sanskrit inscription dedicated to Buddha, possibly done in the 5th century AD.

According to CGAR director Assoc Prof Mokhtar Saidin: “Ten out of the 97 sites identified have been excavated and we expect to make many more discoveries especially those related to the social structure of that c i v i l i s at i o n . ” The team also discovered seven intact furnaces once used to smelt iron, at a new site in Jeriang, within Lembah Bujang New estimates show that the Lembah Bujang settlement covered 1,000 sq km, mostly around Gunung Jerai, and not 400 sq km as previously believed.

CGAR deputy director, Assoc Prof Stephen Chia, said the dating of the clay bricks and the other artifacts were done through radio carbon dating and OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) by labs overseas.

The monument, said Chia, was unique for the region because its base was round, while others were square.

“The bricks were made from clay and sand, with an open firing method,” USM doctoral candidate Zolkurnian Hassan told the conference.

“The bricks are 17 to 20cm wide and 17 to 25cm long. They are fingermarked, which means these were done when clay was still soft. Some had leaf imprints, and the bricks have sharp e n d s. ” Dr U Nyunt Han, senior researcher with the Seameo Spafa Organisation

(New Sunday Times, 25 July 2010, pg 26, News)

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