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ARCHAEOLOGY OF WEST KALIMANTAN

Conference Paper · October 2010

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Zuliskandar Bin Ramli Nik Adzrieman Abd Rahman

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Universiti Utara Malaysia
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ARCHAEOLOGY OF WEST KALIMANTAN

by

NIK HASSAN SHUHAIMI NIK ABD RAHMAN & BAMBANG BUDI UTOMO &
ZULISKANDAR RAMLI

ABSTRACT

Archaeological research in West Kalimantan was pioneered by the Dutch beginning from
1884. The National Centre for Archaeological Research of Indonesia continued to do
research in West Kalimantan in 1993 and 1996. In 1998, archaeological research was
conducted by the archaeological team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia together with
Bapak Bambang Budi Utomo after getting the support from Bapak Hasan Ambary, the
Head of National Centre for Archaeological Research of Indonesia. The three river valleys
of Sambas, Kapuas and Pawan were surveyed. Among the most interesting discoveries
were Batu Pait Inscription, Mukhalinga and Nandi at Nanga Sepauk and the Grave
complexes at Benua Lama. However, they all belonged to the protohistoric period dating
from 6th to 18th centuries. Resulting from the survey, an excavation was carried out at
Benua Lama in 1998/1999. The whole of the Kalimantan was surveyed in 1999 together
with archaeological team from Yayasan Warisan Johor.

Introduction

Archaeological researches in West Kalimantan focussed on the valleys of various rivers

such as Kapuas, Pawan and Sambas in April 1998. The team comprises archaeologists
from Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, UKM and Pusat Penelitian Archaeology
Indonesia. This co-operative international research was understaken to ensare that our
knowledge on the archaeology of Borneo will be holistic and comprehensive. The team
skipped Sabah and Sarawak in our survey because we did not want to interfere with the
archaeological researches conducted by the archaeological team from Universiti Sains
Malaysia. Even though, in early 1980’s we surveyed many parts of Sabah and Sarawak and
had hoped that Kamaruzaman Abd. Rahman woud do his Ph.D thesis on Bukit Tengkorak
in Sabah in 1985. However, the proposed research was abandoned and when USM
conducted researches in Sabah and Sarawak, we decided not to disturb but to chosse
Kalimantan and Brunei as our research grounds. We were fortunate to get the co-operation
of both government agencies responsible for archaeological research.
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In this paper we have to acknowledge the pioneering works of people such as

Bakker 1884, Bouman 1911, Krom 1926, Rouffaer 1909, Moens 1939, Nilakanta Sastri
1949, Tom Harrisson 1949, McKinnon 1979, Quaritch-Wales 1949 and others on the
history archaeology, language of Kalimantan in particular and Borneo in general. In 1990’s
I was priviledged to do archaeological surveys in the Medamit and Liwagu areas under the
Environmental Impact Analysis projects on behalf of the Sarawak and also Sabah
electricity boards. We only reponted our archaeological discoveries but never involved
ourself with actual excavations because we did not want to interfere with the archaeological
activities being carried out by Universiti Sains Malaysia even though in late 1980’s the
person in charge of Sabah area was my ex-student, Ibrahim Kalali. However, in 2000’s
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Department of Museums Negara Brunei Darussalam
were involved in archaeological surveys and excavations at Kota Batu.

Our archaeological survey in West Kalimantan in 1995 in the river valleys of

Sungai Sambas, Kapuas and Pawan, following the Dutch reports, discovered that not many
sites are located in the Sambas valley. Geographically, it is the northern most river in West
Kalimantan. Much of the valley dominated by mangrove swamps. Only Sakang was
mentioned by the Dutch scholars as archaeological site. McKinnon reported the discovery
of Dongson drum on Bukit Selindung. Buddhist images were discovered in the northern
part of Sambas valley in 1940’s and they are in the British Museum at the moment. Our
survey also was informed about the discovery of celadon plates in Sabong Pelangi, eastern
Sambas.

Sungai Kapuas covered a large area. It runs through the centre of West Kalimantan.
According to the Dutch report, there are 13 archaeological sites there. The location of site
are Pontianak, Sungai Berambang, Sanggau, Monggo Batak, Batu Sampei, Pelemas,
Sekadau, Ngeris, Batu Pahat, Sepauk, Nang Jawan, Sungai Sagah, Sepauk Hulu and Nanga
Serawai.

Sungai Pawan can be navigated right to the ulu. According to Negarakartgama, in

the district of Pawan, there was an old kingdom by the name of Tanjungpura. (Chin-li-pi-
shih). This kingdom existed since 1365.

i) Kota Lama Site: Kota Lama Site is in Kecamatan Teluk Keramat, Sambas. It is
about 39 kilometers from kota Sambas. The site is on Sungai Kota Lama, a tributary of
Sungai Sambas. It was the old site for the Sambas Sultanate and it was moved to the
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present day Sambas. Our survey discovered plenty of ceramic sherds of Chinese origins.
They can be dated to about 17-18 centuries AD.
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ii) Selobat Site: It is in kecamatan Pemangkat, Sambas and in the Dusun Simpuan
territory and in the valley of Sungai Selakau in the mangrove area of Sungai Selakau.

The main discovery was a section of ancien perahu, ceramic sherds and gold
ornaments. It is in the south of Sungai Selakau. The discoveries were made by the locals
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of Simpuan during the process of cutting down the mangrove trees for processing into
charcoal. All of the gold ornaments were sold by the finders, and only two planks were
taken and were placed at the bathing and washing area. The size of the planks were 7.5
meters long, 31cm. wide and 9cm. thick. Each plank was tied to another plank by means of
ijok strings. No nails were used:
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iii) Batu Sampai Site: It is located in the village of Sei Sangkuang, kecamtan Kapuas,
Sanggau on the bank of Sungai Sekayam, a tributary of Sungai Kapuas. To reach the site,
one has to go by road from Sanggau and about 3 kms. After reaching Sungai Sekayam one
will arrive in Desa Sengkuang and cross by sampan and walk up flight of steps of about
±50 meters.

The most significant archaeological remains at the site was a stone monolith written
in Pallave and Arabic scripts. Its size was 5 meters x 0.95 meters. It was reported by N.J.
Krom (1926) that the discovery was first reported by Muller in 1843 and H.L. Roth 1896
and J.K.K. Enthoven 1903 and Enthoven also discovered one Kris and one rounded thing
which was a script from Mindoro (Philippines) Krom attempted to transliterate the
inscription in 1926 and was followed by van Naerssen in 1941.
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iv) Site Batu Pait: It is located in Desa Pait, kecamatan Nanga Mahap, Sanggau and
about 60 km. from Sekadau to Nanga Mahap and another 20 km by motorbike. The site is
located on a piece of land closed to Sungai Mahap and beside Dusun Pait.

In the past, the site Batu Pait was known as Batu Pahat according to 1914’s, report.
It was in Sanskrit and the script was Pallava. There was a relief of stupa with a cane and
umbrella. Altogether, there were seven stupa.

The writing was very much eroded, leaving only a small portion to be read. Among
the eligible words were wadi maha, sramah, and yaupa masa – sahe 5 la 8. The first scholar
to analyse the writing of the stupa was Krom in 1926. According to him, the inscription
contained Buddhist mantra (ye te mantra) and can be dated around 7th century AD.

A few other scholars have given their attention towards the inscription. They
included Quaritch-Wales, Chabbra, Tom Harrisson and Stanley J.O’Connors. Wales
believe that it was about 6th century AD. Chabbra, Tom Harrisson and O’Connors believed
that the inscription was younger than the Yupa inscription of Kutei (East Kalimantan)
which can be dated to 5th century AD.
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However, M.M. Soekarto in 1985, gave another date. He believed that its date, on
the basis of paleography, was about the middle of 8th century AD. The content of the
incription was Buddhist mantra.
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V) Site Nanga Sepauk: It is located in Desa Emiang Empekan, kecamatan Nanga

Sepauk, Sintang and on the boarder of kabupaten Sanggau and kabupaten Siwang. One can
travel by road to reach the site; first kabupaten road and second the propinsi road
connecting Sanggau and Sintang. The distance from Sintang was about 70 km and from
Sanggau 140 km. From the propinsi road, after reaching desa Lengkenatura north to Nanga
Sepauk.

Geographically, Nanga Sepauk is located on a plain, almost similar to peninsula in

an area where Sungai Kapuas and Sungai Sepauk meets. The plain is about ±25 m above
sea-level. In 1985, the site appeared to be on the south-east of desa/market. Due to the
explosive expansion, in 1998 the site was located in the midst of the population. The site
area became small with Sungai Kapuas in the north, the desa road in the south and the
houses in the west and east.

The site received first aftention during the 19th century AD when Chinese and Thai
ceramics were reported to have been discovered. After that, one of the Dutch controllers by
the name Bekker reported the discovery of lingga and yoni at Nanga Sepauk. Even though
several reports have been made regarding the existence of a lingga at Nanga Sepauk, only
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in 1985 a team from the Centre for Archaeological Research conducted research. The team
discovered not only the lingga and yoni but also a nandi. All the images were made from
andesit stone.

The lingga comprised 3 sections, Rudra – bhaga, Wisnubhaga, and Brahmabhaga.

Rudra – bhaga which was round shape has a measurement of 37 cm height and 27 cm
diameter. The Brahmabhaga part should have a height of 37 cm just like the Wisnubhaga
(height 37 cm). Never the less, in this case, it has only 21 cm height with 27 cm
measurement for the sides. The Wisnubhaga in the centre is eight sided with measurements
of 37 cm x 12 cm. On the Rudrabhaga, there is a human face and thus allowing the team to
identify the lingga as a mukhalingga.

In all the reports by the Dutch and also by the archaeologists in the 1985 research
team mentioned about the existence of an extra yoni. However, when we examined the
supposed yoni we have come to a conclusion that it was not a yoni but rather an image
pedestal. It has a measurement of 112 x 112 x 13 sm. The depression at the centre was of a
square shape measuring 37 cm x 37 cm and had a kind of frame 7 cm x 7 cm x 1 cm.

There was no mention of a nandi in the Dutch reports before 1985: The discovery
was made in 1985 by archaeologists who did an excavation at the location. The nandi was
made of andesit stone measuring 75 cm x 32 cm x 30 cm. Other finds during the 1985
excavation included ceramic sherds belonging to the Song Dynasty period (± 10th CAD.)
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Peta 8 Situasi Situs Nanga Sepauk (Sumber: Laporan Penelitian Nanga Sepauk 1985)
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vi) Site Benua Lama: It is located in Desa Mulia Kerta, kecamatan Matan Ilir Selatan,
Ketapang. The loction is on the west bank of Sungai Pawan; to Desa Negeri Baru from
Ketapang about 5 km. The Site is nowadays known as Negeri Baru in the centre of Desa
Mulia Kerta. Many of the inhabitants of Desa Mulia Kerta were involved in illegal gold
digging.

Archaeological research in Benua Lama started in 1993 and an excavation was

conducted in 1996 by the archaeological team from National Centre for Archaeology. The
excavation produced evidence that the settlement there evolved during the transition period
(late Majapahit to early Matan Sultanate) to the Dutch period Archaeological finds included
Song-Yuan ceramic sherds, Dutch ceramic sherds and ear then wares and tiles.

In Benua Lama, at two other sites there were Islamic burial complexes. It must be
connected to the old settlement at Benua Lama. The first complex was knows as Keramat
Tujuh. It was about 1 km from Site Benua Lama. Three of the graves have dates on them.
The inscriptions on the tombstones were in Javanese and Arabic scripts. Those in Arabic
were Quranic verses while those in Javanese have Saka dates 1363 saka, 1340 saka and
1360 saka. The other Islamic burial complex was known as Keramat Sembilan. The
inscriptions were in Arabic and Javanese scripts. Among the dated were with 1354 saka,
1360 saka, 1354 saka and 1359 saka.
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Conclusion

The archaeological survey of the heritage sites in West Kalimantan have discovered six
important sites. However, the sites can be dated to the protohistoric period, 6th century AD
to 18th C.A.D. Further research was conducted in late 1998 and 1999 including an
excavations at Benua Lama. But it is not reported in this paper.

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