Archaeology and Srivijaya

A century of historiographical research on Srivijaya has yielded tantalizing but am­biguous results: two capitals on sluggish rivers in equatorial Sumatra, remembered mainly through the account of a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, another capital on the Malay Peninsula recorded in Indian song and story, an inscription on the east coast of the Isthmus of Kra in southern Thailand, and a port facing the Indian Ocean which lies at the end of the legendary voyages of Sinbad and some real Arabo- Persian navigators' itineraries.

Archaeology in Palembang

After Bosch's disappointing 1930 survey, the next decade was marked by the ener­getic but unsystematic efforts of Austrian art historian F. M. Schnitger. He estab­lished a museum in Palembang, but was barely tolerated by the Dutch archaeological establishment.^[1184] The next archaeological inquiry was made in 1954.^[1185] Despite the important role which Srivijaya played in the construction of a national identity for the new republic,^[1186] no systematic archaeological excavations were carried out until the 1970s.

By that time the potential of ceramics, particularly Chinese, to fill in the gaps in the record, particularly economic accounts, was appreciated. Preliminary results of ceramic analysis were no more satisfactory than efforts of the previous half­century: the oldest substantial premodern settlement located was dated to the four­teenth and fifteenth centuries. A large proportion of the ceramics were, however, not dated; at Bukit Seguntang, 48 percent of the sherds could not be identified.^[1187]

As early as 1923, a Dutch scholar with considerable experience in Sumatra suggested that Srivijaya’s capital was not a stereotypical urban center.

Archaeological campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s yielded signifi­cant new data. It was determined that previously unidentified ceramics found by Bronson dated from late Tang dynasty China. New discoveries included a high proportion (over 60 percent) of Tang ceramics.^[1191] The range of artifacts found here provides strong evidence for connections between southeast Sumatra, China, and the western Indian Ocean in the late first millennium.^[1192]

Ceramics from the Museum Badaruddin site included many imports of the ninth and tenth centuries of a range of types from many parts of China. Glazed West Asian earthenware also comprised several types. A similar range of wares was found in 1999 on a shipwreck 300 kilometers due east of Palembang, off Belitung Island. The ship was a dhow from the western Indian Ocean, possibly the Red Sea.^[1193] This site provides further evidence of the scale and complex nature of the trade during Srivijaya’s florescence. Palembang continued to import a range of Chinese wares in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.^[1194]

Archaeological Remains in Jambi

The lower Batanghari River in Jambi Province is much richer in architectural and sculptural remains than Palembang. At Muara Jambi, 61 ruined brick structures have been found along a 7.5-kilometer stretch of the Batang Hari River, dating from the eleventh through thirteenth centuries.

The structures are Buddhist shrines, including stupas. A pool measuring 120 x 100 meters was probably a facility for storing water, and played a symbolic role as well. Remains include a range of Chinese ceramics from the eleventh through thir­teenth centuries, and a bronze gong inscribed with Chinese characters dated 1231 ce.^[1195] Bronze was very scarce during this period in China, which makes the dis­covery of this item in Sumatra especially surprising.^[1196]

The role played by the population of the central highlands of Sumatra in the evolution of the Srivijayan society has been neglected. Archaeological sites, with monumental remains and inscriptions, are as common in the hinterland as in the lowlands.

Archaeology of Barus

The center of activity at Barus moved several times within a few square kilometers over 500 years.^[1198] Lubok Tua, where the Tamil inscription of 1088 was discovered, was occupied from the mid-ninth to the twelfth century. Part of the site seems to have been enclosed by an earthen wall, perhaps for defense.

More than 9,000 shards of West Asian glass were found, and approximately 1,000 sherds of pottery from the Persian Gulf/Red Sea area, more than from Palembang, but of lesser quality. Over 17,000 sherds of Chinese ware were excavated, the oldest ofwhich were made in the ninth and tenth centuries. Most were fragments of storage jars, a pattern found at other Southeast Asian sites of this period.^[1199]

India is represented by sculpted granite and over 1,000 beads. Guillot believes that much earthenware pottery found at the site was made in Indian style at Barus, and that Barus was an Indian comptoir^[1200] with a significant contribution from the Persian Gulf. One may be permitted to suggest that the Sumatran contribution to Barus culture was more significant than this reconstruction would imply. Barus minted its own gold coinage,^[1201] and molds for jewelry found there showed that jewelers also lived there. Similar coins, all of which may have been made at Barus, have been found in Muara Jambi, and even Fostat, Egypt.^[1202]

Archaeological data cannot clarify Barus's sociopolitical link with Jambi, Kedah, or Palembang, but combined with the available data, they permit us to draw a clearer picture of the cultural diversity and the range of commercial activity in this part of Sumatra.

Archaeology of Kedah

More than 50 archaeological sites of the protohistoric and Srivijaya eras have been found in an area 25 kilometers long and up to 10 kilometers wide between Kedah Peak and the Muda River.

Sungai Mas covers at least 20 hectares. At least six brick structures have been found, together with dense habitation remains,^[1205] including a large proportion of imported ceramics from the ninth century on, including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Arabo-Persian ware.^[1206] Excavation of a 3 x 3 meter square yielded 4,211 sherds, 15 percent ofwhich were imported, as well as shards of glass vessels and beads, brick fragments, and 8 sherds of turquoise fritware from the Persian Gulf.^[1207] Beads may have been made onsite, using imported glass. Other sites in the same area such as Tanjung Simpor also yielded Chinese and Persian Gulf sherds of the tenth through twelfth centuries, as well as Near Eastern glass, which may have been recycled into beads on site.^[1208]

The center of activity in south Kedah moved to the north side of the Merbok Estuary around 1000 ce.^[1209] This may be connected with the Chola invasion of 1025. Temple architecture and religious sculpture for the next hundred years represent Hinduism, the religion of the Cholas. The largest concentration of trade ceramics from the eleventh through thirteenth centuries was found at Pengkalan Bujang, on a small stream along which temples of this period have also been found. An exca­vation of approximately 3 x 3 meters produced 10,000 sherds of Chinese porcelain, 30 percent of the assemblage. Glass shards and beads from the site were attributed to the Near East.^[1210] During the same period, Kedah may have imported gold for Hindu rituals from Kalimantan.^[1211]