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Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI Traces of Ancient Sungai Batu Flow and Trading Complex from Geophysical Surveys and Archaeological Excavation Works Journal: Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology ManuscriptFor ID SJST-2019-0195.R2 Review Only Manuscript Type: Review Article Date Submitted by the 16-Sep-2019 Author: Complete List of Authors: ROSLI, NAJMIAH; Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Physics A Rahman, Muhammad; Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Physics SAIDIN, MOKHTAR; Universiti Sains Malaysia, Centre for Global Archaeological Research Saad, Rosli Keyword: Sungai Batu, ancient river, trading complex, entrepot For Proof Read only Page 1 of 29 Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI 1 2 3 4 TRACES OF ANCIENT SUNGAI BATU FLOW AND TRADING COMPLEX 5 6 7 FROM GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION 8 9 WORKS 10 11 12 13 14 Review Article 15 16 Traces of Ancient Sungai Batu Flow and Trading Complex from Geophysical Surveys 17 18 and Archaeological Excavation Works 19 20 Najmiah Rosli1, Nazrin Rahman1, Mokhtar Saidin2 and Rosli Saad1* 21 For Review Only 22 1 23 Geophysics, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM, 11800, Malaysia 24 25 2Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM, 11800, 26 27 Malaysia 28 29 30 * Corresponding author, Email address: [email protected] 31 32 33 34 Acknowledgment 35 36 37 The authors would like to thank Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) for 38 39 funding this research under 1002/PARKEO/910328 account. Gratitude is further 40 41 extended to USM geophysics staff and postgraduate students for their time and effort 42 43 during data acquisition. 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 For Proof Read only Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI Page 2 of 29 1 2 3 4 TRACES OF ANCIENT SUNGAI BATU FLOW AND TRADING COMPLEX 5 6 7 FROM GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION 8 9 WORKS 10 11 12 13 14 Review Article 15 16 Traces of Ancient Sungai Batu Flow and Trading Complex from Geophysical Surveys 17 18 and Archaeological Excavation Works 19 20 21 For Review Only 22 23 Abstract 24 25 Excavations in Sungai Batu have revealed numerous archaeological artefacts that 26 27 link Sungai Batu to a life heavily associated with trading. The discovered artefacts 28 29 st 30 originated back to the 1 century; therefore, was established as one of the oldest known 31 32 civilisation in Southeast Asia. This encouraged researchers to dig deeper on Sungai 33 34 Batu’s archaeological events; however, many of the studies were relatively superficial 35 36 37 and did not portray the dynamics between Sungai Batu trading complex and its ancient 38 39 river as a whole but explained in localized sections. This paper seeks to provide a 40 41 conclusion of the past events in the area based on geological, geophysical and 42 43 geotechnical studies. The discussions include tracing the ancient Sungai Batu flows and 44 45 46 the trading complex for better illustration of their associations so that future 47 48 archaeological endeavours could discover more trade and religious artefacts aside from 49 50 jetty structural remains, iron smelting sites, potteries and stupa at Sungai Batu. 51 52 53 54 55 Keywords: Sungai Batu; ancient river; trading complex; entrepot 56 57 58 59 60 For Proof Read only Page 3 of 29 Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI 1 2 3 4 1. Introduction 5 6 7 As the richest archaeological zone in Malaysia, Lembah (Valley) Bujang covers 8 9 an extensive area of roughly 224 km2. The region consists of three archaeological 10 11 complexes; Sungai Batu, Sungai Mas and Pengkalan Bujang. Sungai Batu was named 12 13 14 after a tributary river that flows into the area. Civilisations at Sungai Mas and Pengkalan 15 16 Bujang emerged only after Sungai Batu complex started to decline economically; hence, 17 18 are chronologically younger (Murphy, 2018). Sungai Batu complex possessed abundant 19 20 archaeological structures and artefacts that could unravel the history of human activities 21 For Review Only 22 23 (primarily trading activities), the geographical changes of Sungai Batu ancient river and 24 25 ancient coastline. 26 27 With numerous studies that began more than a century ago, this brought about 28 29 30 mismatched and inorganized interpretations on the matter. Seeking for strong legitimacy, 31 32 this paper summarized a great number of studies regarding Sungai Batu trading complex 33 34 and its ancient river in order to align the archaeological events accordingly for future 35 36 37 references. 2D resistivity method was employed as the initial step in understanding 38 39 Sungai Batu’s geology with the assistance of physical samplings from borehole data and 40 41 auguring. Traces of ancient Sungai Batu flow was also investigated using magnetic and 42 43 3D resistivity method in conjunction with physical samplings (Nordiana et al., 2013; 44 45 46 Saad, Saidin, Fauzi & Tarmizi, 2015; Yusoh et al., 2018). 47 48 49 50 2. Location of Lembah Bujang 51 52 53 Lembah Bujang is situated in Kuala Muda, Merbok (Southern Kedah) and covers 54 55 an area bordered by Mount Jerai in the north, Muda River in the south, Sungai Petani in 56 57 the east and Straits of Malacca in the west (Saad et al., 2015; Roslan, Noor, Abdullah & 58 59 60 For Proof Read only Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI Page 4 of 29 1 2 3 4 Ali, 2016). The 1217 m high Mount Jerai, the highest point in the area, was particularly 5 6 7 useful during active trading period in Lembah Bujang as it served as a landmark for 8 9 traders and mariners (Zakaria, Saidin & Abdullah, 2011). Principal rivers that flow into 10 11 the valley include Sungai Merbok, Sungai Muda and Sungai Bujang which drains into the 12 13 14 straits (Figure 1a); therefore, were prime areas for archaeological investigations as they 15 16 held attractive features for living settlement due to close proximity to food sources and 17 18 fertile land (Washburn & Lancaster, 1968; Yesner, 1987; Haughey, 2009). It is clear that 19 20 most of the archaeological sites were found at very close distances to the rivers and coastal 21 For Review Only 22 23 line, as supported by the 86 sites found in Lembah Bujang (Allen, 1991). However, 24 25 changes in physical environment (river course or sea level rise) at some point of the 26 27 history caused some sites to be located further inland as seen at Sungai Batu, Gunung 28 29 30 Jerai and Tikam Batu sites. 31 32 Key interests in Lembah Bujang archaeological sites include Sungai Batu, 33 34 Pengkalan Bujang and Sungai Mas archaeological complexes. However, this paper 35 36 37 focuses on Sungai Batu archaeological site where a tributary river (Sungai Batu) that 38 39 branches off from Sungai Merbok played an important role in archaeological perspective 40 41 (Figure 1b). 42 43 44 45 46 Figure 1: Known archaeological sites in Kedah where a) depicts the sites’ locations 47 48 relative to neighbouring rivers while b) shows Sungai Batu archaeological site relative 49 50 to Sungai Bujang on the west and Sungai Merbok on the east 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 For Proof Read only Page 5 of 29 Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI 1 2 3 4 3. Geography and sea level changes around Sungai Batu 5 6 7 Geographically speaking, surface observations at Sungai Batu (Figure 1b) depict 8 9 that the region is largely covered by palm and rubber trees with localized swamps. Two 10 11 rivers; Sungai Merbok and Sungai Bujang flank each side of the archaeological complex. 12 13 14 The elevation surrounding the complex is relatively flat with less than 25 m height (Figure 15 16 2); hence, could be considered as a flood plain zone due to close proximity to rivers. 17 18 19 Figure 2: Topography surrounding Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex and 20 21 For Review Only 22 Sungai Merbok which illustrates that the majority of the area is a flood plain zone 23 24 25 In terms of shoreline, a large part of Lembah Bujang was engulfed by the sea 26 27 during the 1st – 2nd centuries due to high sea level at the time (Saidin, 2011). This explains 28 29 30 the interior localities of archaeological sites depicted by Figure 1A as a result of limited 31 32 land at the time. In the 9th – 13th centuries, the shorelines were more or less similar during 33 34 the high-water level except for the changed in Sungai Muda flow course (Figure 3). 35 36 th th 37 Drastic changed of shoreline could only be seen in the 14 – 15 centuries where the 38 39 receding sea level caused an abundant of sediments brought by sea and river to be 40 41 deposited onto the shore. This event encouraged coastal land development and 42 43 44 subsequently contributed to the prominent sandy-clay soil deposited in the area 45 46 (Wheatley, 1961; Allen, 1990). 47 48 49 50 51 th th 52 Figure 3: Shoreline regression throughout the 9 until 15 centuries relative to 53 54 Sungai Batu site that caused the exposure of landmass (modified from Allen, 2000) 55 56 57 58 59 60 For Proof Read only Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2019-0195.R2 ROSLI Page 6 of 29 1 2 3 4 4.