BULLETIN

OF THE

RAFFLES MUSEUM Singapore, Straits Settlements

Series B, Vol. I, No. 3, December, 1937

CONTENTS Paffe

" Melanesoid " Culture in Malaya, By Ivor H. N. Evans - 141 Note on a " Neo-Megalith" in Old-Batavia. By Dr. W. F. Stutterheim. Batavia (Java) - - - - 147 The Age of Bronze Kettledrums. By Dr. P. V. van Stein Callenfels, o.b.e. - - - - 150 Minor Excavations carried out in Caves in and Johore. By M. W- F. Tweedie - - - 154

Pziblished by Authority.

SINGAPORE : Printed at the Government Printing Office, Singapore, by W. T. Cherry, Government Printer.

1938

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries " Melanesoid " Culture in Malaya1 By Ivor H. N. Evans

Dr. P. V. van Stein Callenfels in a recent paper On the Melanesoid Civilisa¬ tion of Eastern Asia in the Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, Singapore, Series B, No. i, May 1936, has made certain statements (pp. 44, 45) in regard to prehistoric research in Malaya which should not be allowed to pass without comment, not only because such statements are liable to be quoted, but also because it is desirable that further details with regard to the beginnings of prehistoric research in Malaya should be put on record.

In the first place he gives a short, but somewhat garbled, rather ungenerous and occasionally incorrect summary of the history of prehistoric reasearch previous to his first arrival in Malaya. In opening this he says, with regard to caves and rock-shelters, that the "earliest investigations appear to be those of Mr. E. Wright in the eighties and nineties of the last century, in caves and rock-shelters in . He reports finding human remains, red pigment and grinding stones, but his researches afford us no further evidence than this."

First of all, the name of Wright is unknown in the short history of cave- exploration in Malaya. The person to whom Dr. Callenfels no doubt intended to refer was E. Wray, Curator of the , and afterwards first Director of Museums, Federated Malay States. It was he who was responsible, though Dr. Callenfels does not note this, for the finding of the first protoneolith, at any rate in a cave.2

Referring to my own earlier work in caves in Perak and Pahang Dr. Callenfels says, "His first excavations were conducted in a somewhat unmethodical manner, and the results were published without maps or sections, nor were the artifacts encountered figured. On the other hand his descriptions are often excellent, e.g. that of the two protoneoliths from Gua To Long in Pahang (Journ. F.M.S. Mus., IX, p. 39). On the whole, however, the way in which the excavations were conducted precludes the possibility of drawing conclusions of any real value. The necessity of systematically surveying the finds and publishing maps and sections, although seemingly of little consequence to the layman, is demonstrated by a comparison of the conclusions to which Mr. Evans came in 1921, after digging some pits through the layers in the Gua Kerbau rock-shelter, and those reached by him and myself after systematically excavating the same site in 1926-1927 (Journ. F.M.S. Mus., IX, p. 267 and XII, p. 145)." I11 other words the work done in the Peninsula was not of much use until Dr. Callenfels arrived in Malaya. Let us examine what he has written :—"His [my] first excavations were conducted in a somewhat unmethodical manner." They were not, in so far as it was possible to conduct them otherwise at the time. The cave floors, or such parts thereof as were excavated, were removed in thin layers and the depths of

*• This paper was submitted for publication in March 1937. Ed. 2- Evans, Papers on the Ethnology and Archceology of the Malay Peninsula, p. 145. The specimen is in the Perak Museum, Taiping.

Bull. Raffles Mus. Ser. B, Vol. I, No. 3, 1937.

[ 141 ]

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries ivor h. n. evans objects found were carefully noted and are recorded in my papers, for I fully realised the importance of accurate work. Having neither surveying instruments nor a surveyor, it was impossible to do better. Then as to the artifacts being unfigured. Photographs of some of these were supplied with my papers at the time that they were written, but they were, unfortunately, not published, on grounds of expense, by the then Director of Museums, F.M.S., who could not apparently realize that objects discovered in caves might be of considerable scientific importance. This omission was, however, remedied in part, at a much later date, by the reproduction of two of the rejected pictures, those of the two first palaeolithic-type implements found in Malaya (at ) in my Papers on the Ethnologyd Dr. Calleufels does note, further on in his paper (p. 44) that the Lenggong excavations produced palaeoliths, but he does not that they also produced the first "Sumatralith"- known from Malaya, although it was not realized by me at the time that it was a distinct type of implement. It is, I believe, the smallest specimen of the kind yet known.

Now as to the pits that I am supposed to have dug at the Gua Kerbau previous to Dr. Callenfels's arrival in Malaya. No pits were ever dug by me in that locality. What work was done there was undertaken by Mr. W. M. Gordon3 who was engaged by the then Director as temporary assistant to the F.M.S. Museums. I visited the site on four occasions while Mr. Gordon was working there.

Whatever may be said of Mr. Gordon's work, it did at any rate produce a new type of pounding and rubbing stone, that with "grip marks". Palaeoliths and protoneoliths were also found. He did not, however, collect any "Sumatra- liths" such as Dr. Callenfels and I found to be fairly common subsequently. As he had not seen any implements of this type—none had then been found in Malaya except the single small specimen from Lenggong—it is likely that, as he was quite unused to dealing with stone implements, he may not have realised that they were of any interest if he encountered them.

Mr. Gordon brought back his specimens to the Perak Museum, where I was then working, and all such were numbered in reference to a list in which were recorded the depths at which they were said to have been found. In writing up the material, therefore, I had to accept the data as correct, which, even now, I cannot be positive that they were not. It was unfortunate, however, either that the floor of the rock-shelter had been deeply disturbed where he worked, or that the work was carried out with insufficient care. At any rate his results showed iron objects and pieces of Chinese porcelain underlying stone implements typical of the cave-dwellers. The porcelain, of celadon type, was not earlier than the Sung dynasty. Leaving out of the question, then, disturbance of the soil, of which I had no evidence, I had to accept the data put before me which indicated that the objects in stone could not be earlier than those of porcelain. In con¬ nexion with this conclusion, which subsequent experience did not support, and

'■ Plate XXXIX. Vide also p. 146. 2- Evans, Papers on the Ethnology, p. 146. A palmolithic-culture implement worked on one face only, the other being covered with the natural "skin" of the stone. 3- The circumstances are clearly stated by me in my Papers on the Ethnology, p. 148 and not only there but in the joint paper by Dr. Callenfels and myself !

[ 142 ] Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries MELANESOID CULTURE IN MALAYA was undoubtedly highly incorrect, I drew attention to the stories obtained from various aboriginal sources, and recorded by various European writers, of stone implements still being used by certain inaccessible wild tribes. Herein, I thought it possible, might lie the explanation of the proximity of such incongruous objects as porcelain wares and stone tools of primitive type.

When Dr. Callenfels and I conducted excavations in the same large shelter at a later date we did not encounter the anomalies to which I have referred above to any great extent.1

It must be realised that when I first started cave-exploration in Malaya very little was known. Apart from bones of animals, shells and some human remains, the last very fragmentary, Wray had previously found ruddle and black haematite, grinding-slabs, a muller and one of the implements we now term protoneoliths.

My Eenggong excavations, apart from other objects, yielded two palaeoliths2 and one "Sumatralith" (not then recognised as a distinct type of implement). Of the former I wrote : "Whether the dwellers in the Lenggong caves knew how to polish, or make, stone implements by a rubbing down process must, on the evidence before us, remain a matter of doubt; but if they did, and we are to regard the specimens that I have described as being roughly blocked out and unfinished implements of neolithic culture, it is difficult to see into what Penin¬ sular type, or types, they were to be turned. On the other hand the fact that stone implements were made by former inhabitants of the Eenggong caves increases the probability of Mr. Wray's polished implement (his protoneolith) having been made by cave dwellers too. What relation in point of age the Eenggong deposits bear to those of Gunong Cheroh is, however, uncertain."3

The next considerable step forward was the finding of both palseoliths and protoneoliths, and also cord-marked pottery at Gunong Sennyum in Pahang.

Of these palaeolithic type stone implements I wrote: — "Three of these have a roughly pear-shaped form, and, had they not been found in association with articles of polished stone, might almost have been taken for implements of palaeolithic type."4 It must be stressed here what an extraordinary culture is presented by the stone implements found in the cave floors of Malaya, one in which implements approximating to those that would be termed Chellean in Europe are contempor¬ aneous with a rude type of ground implements (protoneolith) and also with an extant fauna. Never having encountered anything of the sort previously, it seemed to me unlikely that such a state of affairs, involving an enormous cultural jump and mixture, could have existed. I was, therefore, forced into supposing that the pear-shaped artifacts might be unfinished implements, but here again

I remarked : —

"I suppose that for want of other evidence we must consider these last (the palaeolithic-type implements) as rejects in the course of manufacture,

'■ But vide Jown. F.M.S. MusVol. IX, p. 267. =• Now so called. 3- /own. F.M.S. Mus., 1918, Vol. VII, p. 234. 4. fourn. F.M.S. Mus., 1920, Vol. IX, p. 39.

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which, had they been satisfactory, would have been turned into polished axe-heads or chisels; but in two cases their shapes do not seem to lend themselves particularly well to the aforesaid purposes. Furthermore, it is curious that the two small implements described above (now known as protoneoliths), which are only polished at their cutting edges, do not show any signs of chipping on their rougher parts. Rudely-dressed pear-shaped implements might have been used as hammers for smashing bones to extract the marrow, but none of those found showed any signs of bruising at their ends, which might, perhaps, have been expected, had they been used for this purpose."1

Enlightment with regard to these matters came to me when I visited Dr. Callenfels at Medan, Sumatra, in, I think, 1926, but at any rate after Mr. Gordon's work at Gua Kerbau, Gunong Pondok, and previous to Dr. Callenfels's and my joint excavations at the same place. I found in his hands at Medan certain publications with regard to French Indo-China. These were some numbers of the Mimoires du Service Giologique de I'Indochine, published between the years 1902 and 1925, containing work by H. Mansuy.3 From these it became obvious that much more extensive work in regard to cave excavation had then been done in Indo-China than in Malaya, though it had not been commenced earlier, and that a similar culture had been disclosed there. Much larger numbers of specimens had been found in Indo-China and it was evident that while rough amygdaloidal implements must be recognised as belonging to a palaeolithic culture, they were associated with implements of a primitive neolithic type (protoneoliths).

Not only did the French work in Indo-China embolden me to recognise that the co-existence of implements of primitive palaeolithic and neolithic type was a iact, in spite of its seeming improbability, but it enlightened me with regard to the deposits being of much greater age than, in view of the data received from Mr. Gordon, I had thought to be the case. I had thus, before Dr. Callenfels and I started work at Gunong Pondok, abandoned my incorrect views with regard to the comparative modernity of these deposits. As a matter of fact the seeds of these erroneous beliefs had been implanted previously in connection with work at Gunong Sennyum.3 I have already referred to the finding of cord-marked pottery at Gunong

Sennyum. With regard to this I recorded : — "Passing now to the pottery from Gunong Sennyum and from Kota Tongkat: from both localities we have ware which has been decorated by pressing a cord against its surface before the clay hardened, and, on making a re-examination of some of the fragments of rough pottery from IYenggong I find that they also show cross-hatching which has been produced by this method, the marks left by the twist of the cord being plainly visible."4

'• Journ. F.M.S. Mus., 1920, Vol. IX, p. 39. 2_ Perhaps also by others. I have not the papers here to consult, but make use of a footnote, giving volumes, pages etc. in my Papers on the Ethnology and Arehaologv of the Malay Peninsula, p. 151. 3- Vide Journ. F.M.S. Mus., 1920, Vol. IX, p. 48. 4. Journ. F.M.S. Mus., 1920, Vol. IX, p. 49.

[ 144 3 Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries MELANESOID CULTURE IN MALAYA

Turning now to the next matter. Writing of the results of the examination of human remains discovered at the Gua Kerbau, Gunong Fondok, by himself and myself in 1926-27, Dr. Callenfels states that "human remains were found, but nothing very definite can be said concerning them. They were examined by Dr. H. W. L,. Duckworth, who states that some of the jaws have distinct Melanesoid affinities." Now Dr. Duckworth made an extremely painstaking and detailed study of the remains and the passage to which Dr. Callenfels refers states that, in a jaw from Lenggong," "the body of the bone is relatively strong and thick, the chin not prominent, being in this respect quite similar to those of the aboriginal natives of New Caledonia or Australia."2 This is the orily reference in Dr. Duckworth's paper to any Melanesian Island and he does not refer any¬ where directly to Melanesians. Dr. Duckworth's finding is that the skeletons are Pre-Dravidian and he discovers marked correspondences with the Nicobarese and to some extent with the Sakai of the Peninsula. Is Dr. Callenfels, therefore, right in saying that nothing very definite can be said about them and is it not stretching things rather far to refer to the "Melanesoid" characters of jaws when the reference is to one particular jaw which shows one character similar to jaws from New Caledonia or Australia? As neither Dr. Callenfels nor I are experts in physical anthropology, we must depend on those who are.

Speaking of my work at Tenggong, "carried out", Dr. Callenfels says, "along less methodical lines," it is remarked that it yielded two implements of palaeolithic type, but no neoliths, and that Professor Menghin has chosen this as the typical locality for the older "Melanesoid" culture characterized by the absence of protoneoliths. Dr. Callenfels remarks that the site does not appear to have been rich in remains and "that it would be unsafe to draw definite conclusions (as to the absence of neoliths) from negative evidence." In this I agree with him and the only evidence which may tend to show that these shallow Denggong deposits are of great age is the high mineralization of the human bones found. Here again, however, that may depend on their having been more rapidly impregnated with lime than elsewhere.3

Dr. Callenfels then proceeds to deal with certain paleolithic culture imple¬ ments obtained by Mr. G. W. Thomson (not Thompson as Dr. Callenfels writes) at Nyik, near Sungai Dembing, Pahang. These were found in the banks of a small stream, according to Dr. Callenfels, by Chinese miners in the course of mining for alluvial tin. This collection, he states, does not contain a single protoneolith. Chief!y on these grounds, though remarking that the implements are of rather an unwieldy type (i.e. somewhat primitive), Dr. Callenfels states that he considers that "we have here probably the oldest stage of the Melanesoid culture yet known from the Peninsula, and it would be of the greatest importance if another site could be found yielding the same fades."4

'• Not Gunong Pondok.

2- Journ. J.R.A.S., Malayan Branch, 1934, Vol. XII, p. 151. 3- But against this has to be taken the presence of cordmarked pottery, referred to above. This appears only to be found in the later stages of the culture. 4- The Nyik site is no longer accessible for reasons stated by Dr. Callenfels.

Mus. Ser. B, Vol. I, No. 3, 1937. [ 145 ]

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In view of Dr. Callenfels's remarks, as reported above, I note the following; references to the Nyik finds on page 150 of my Papers on the Ethnology and Archceology of the Malay Peninsula. "In the same year (1921) as that in which Mr. Gordon was occupied at Gunong Pondok, Mr. G. W. Thomson of Sungai Eembing near Kuantan, Pahang, reported to the then Director of Raffles Museum, Singapore, the finding in the Nyik Valley, twenty miles west of Kuantan, of a palaeolithic type implement from alluvial tin workings. He subsequently obtained many more, and also pounders with grip marks exactly similar to those from Gunong Pondok. In addition he got two stone axes—water-worn pebbles of convenient shape and size, not chipped, and ground at one end on either side to form a cutting edge. These, on the evidence of the cave deposits, I ascribe to the same culture as the palaeolithic implements. A portion of a true neolithic- culture polished circlet, perhaps a bracelet, was also obtained from the mine tailings, as were other specimens. Objects coming from such a source may, of course, belong to many depths, but the association of palaeolithic type implements, pounders with grip marks and implements ground to form a cutting edge only has been proved from Gunong Pondok and elsewhere."

Yet Dr. Callenfels states that these implements, obtained without any possible knowledge of their stratification, were "of far greater importance" than those from Eenggong where the depths at which such objects were obtained were carefully recorded. Moreover I cannot understand his statement as to no pro- toneoliths being found at Nyik. Some of Mr. Thomson's specimens are in the Perak Museum in Taiping; others, the greater number, in the Raffles Museum, Singapore. A considerable time has elapsed since the find was made and I have not here in England to guide me certain correspondence which passed between Mr. Thomson and myself, nor that which he must have carried on with the late Major J. C. Moulton, then Director of Raffles Museum. My memory is, however, that Mr. Thomson sent me a few pieces direct to Taiping, after, I think, the majority had gone to Singapore. Subsequently I was allowed by Major Moulton, if I remember rightly, to select some of the Raffles Museum duplicate specimens for transfer to the Perak Museum. Of the protoneoliths one specimen (possibly a little doubtful) is, I believe, in Taiping and the other, the better of the two, should be in Singapore. Some of the grip-marked pounding stones are in Taiping, as also the portion of the neolithic bracelet, which was probably sent direct to me by Mr. Thomson.

In bringing these notes to a close I must state that I do not wish in any way to detract from the important services that Dr. Callenfels has rendered to prehistoric research in Malaya, both by continually insisting upon its importance, and by the introduction of survey methods upon which it would probably not be easy to improve. It must be noted, however, that even such an excellent rule-of-thumb method may provide deceptive and incorrect results, owing to the mixing of objects of different periods where earth disturbance by man or animals has taken place and where the traces of such disturbance are not obvious, as is sometimes the case. It is rather unfortunate that Dr. Callenfels will not admit the utility of other methods than his own, when even these, excellent as they are, may equally be at fault.

[ 146 3 Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries note on a "neo-megauth" in old-batavia

Note on a " Neo-Megalith" in Old-Batavia

By Dr. W. F. Stutterheim, Batavia (Java)

Plate EXIV

It has been pointed out already on several occasions that some of the so-called Hindu antiquities in Java are nothing else but Hinduized versions of pre-Hinduis- tic holy sites. Particularly this is the case with monuments, found high up in the hills, which consist of terraces and altars in the open.

A well-known example of such a monument is Chandi Sukuh whose lay-out in terraces on the slopes of Mount Eawu, immediately betrays its pre-Hinduistic origin, though its ornament, as well as reliefs and figures, show clearly a Hinduized style. If one considers the main altar, a truncated pyramid strongly reminiscent of similar altars as found at the marce's and ahu's di Polynesia, one is transported into the sphere of ancestor-worship.1 Therefore students of archaeo¬ logy in Java usually call these features "old-indigenous" or, sometimes, Polynesian, though their original character appears in clearer light if one calls them with Heine Gelderu "megalithic".2

Further examples are furnished by the remains of holy sites at Cheta, higher up the same mountain, or by those on the Argapura (Yang, East-Java) and several other sites in the mountains of West-Java. Also some of the lately discovered monuments on Mount Penanggungan belong to this interesting though little studied class of antiquities. A characteristic feature of all these remains is the fact that, when they show traces of Hinduistic art and culture in ornament or reliefs, these appear to be in the style of the latest period of Hinduism in Java (15th century A.D.).

We therefore may assume that they bear witness to the ultimate penetration of Hinduistic conceptions, valid for centuries in the plains, into the still untouched mountain-regions of Java. Knowing from literature and archaeology, how Hinduism in Java was only gradually spread from the courts over the country, we easily understand why these "megalithic" Hindu-antiquities in the mountains invariably belong to the youngest schools of Hindu-Javanese art. On the other hand they demonstrate the persistency of old-indigenous, "megalithic" conceptions amongst Javanese and give a further proof of the ability of the latter to adopt new, though cognate, ideas without giving up the main principles of their own conception of life. For it has been pointed out that almost all of the reliefs at Sukuh pertain to some system of deliverance of

'■ This resemblance is stronger still in the case of the altars on Mount Argapura in East-Java. See "Verslag van het derde Congres van het Oostersch Genootschap in Nederland", Leyden 1923, p. 28 ff., and /. .1. De Jong in "Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap", 2d series Vol. LIV, 1937, p. 22 IT.

-■ See Prof. Dr. K. von Heine Gelderu in "Wiener Beitriige zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Asiens" Vol. VIII, Vienna 1934.

Mus. Ser. B, Vol. I, No. 3, 1937. [ 147 ]

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries W. F. STUTTKRHEIM the soul and its conveyance to heaven, originally based upon some of the old Hinduistic schools of yoga but greatly altered by Javanese genius. These alterations exactly point into the direction of old-indigenous conceptions about life after death.1

But while such remains clearly point to the persistency of old-indigenous conceptions and moreover to their predomination over Hinduistic beliefs, a still stronger proof of their endurance would be given by a case where not a "mega- lithic" holy site was elaborated and adorned with Hinduistic motives, but where, on the contrary, a Hinduistic or even Mohammedan sanctuary was transformed into a "megalitliic" object of veneration. Such an example would show indeed that the ideas deriving from Java's megalitliic age are still strongly alive in the population and that prehistory as it were stands ready to supplant history.

I believe to have found such a case recently. Through the necessity of acquainting myself with the topography of old-Batavia of the 17th and 18th centuries, I had to inspect the kampong's that nowadays form the greater part of Batavia's old section. There my attention was attracted by a mound covered with stones of different kinds and of different sizes. This mound was lying at the side of a kampong-street (Gang Kampong Loewar in Kampong Trate). It was topped by an upright stone of somewhat conical shape which, upon closer examination, turned out to be a smoothened riverstone. Among the stones covering the mound I found bricks as well as a number of smooth cylindrical stones, similar to that erected 011 the top, but thinner. Further there lay scattered in the pile three pairs of mcesan's (Mohammedan tomb stones).

The last ones removed all doubt as to the original purport of the mound— inquiries with the inhabitants of the kampong confirmed the supposition that the place was the remainder of some Mohammedan graves. To judge by the

'■ Started as a cult of Hindu gods by Hinduistic kings of Java and their courts, Hinduism in Java soon became a cult of deified kings or a royal ancestor-cult, the kings being living incarnations of the Hindu gods. Traces of this process appear clearly in some old-Javanese inscriptions found 011 menhir-like stones and reading "sang hiyang lingga hyang" i.e. "This is the holy lingga of the Ancestor". The ''nggij originally Siva's symbol, became connected with the royal ancestor-cult because the kings were considered to be incarnations of that god. Here lies the link between Hinduism and old-indigenous ancestor-worship on megalithic base. Since the king's soul after his death returned to Siva, in Siva's heaven, the lingga soon became a symbol of the deliverance of the soul as well as a link between the deceased king and his descendants. Thus it kept its original Hinduistic meaning of a symbol of fertility in addition because ancestor-worship was closely connected with fertility. In later ages of the Hinduistic period in Java, the process of connecting the cult of Siva's lingga with that of menhir's or of ithyphallic figures was greatly furthered by the help of some Hinduistic sects which compared release of erotic tension with deliverance of the soul after its imprisonment in the body. They practised the excitement of erotic tension and its final release in a carefully prescribed way as a ritual, meaning to reach the deliverance of the soul before death. Being secret and standing more or less outside orthodox religious life these sects must have chosen the mountainous regions as their abodes and this might be the reason why practically all remains of this kind are found in the mountains. Thus it becomes comprehensible why Hinduized "megalithic" holy sites often show menhirs in the shape of a naturalistically depicted phallus and why ithyphallic figures are found there too.

[ 148 ] Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries BULL. RAFFLES MUS-, SER. B, VOL. I, NO. 3, 1937- PLATE LXIV

Fig.' i. "Neo-megalith" in Batavia. Seen from the N.E. On top of the mound is the worshipped menhir. In the foreground are other oblong smooth river-stones, further back are bricks, and to the right, at the foot of the mound, are some of the tomb stones of the original Mohammedan Graves. Photo. Holt.

Fig. 2. "Neo-megalith" in Batavia. Seen from the S.W. A few bricks of the original Mohammedan Graves, still lying in connected order, are to be seen in the foreground. _LU 1 ■ Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries NOTE ON A "NEO-MEGAUI'H" IN OLD-BATAVIA

number of the present mcesan's there must have been at least three graves on that spot. The people definitely ascribed the mound to the grave of one Sayyid Ma'inun, of whom, however, they could furnish no further details. • " " _ - '• It is quite certain that the present state of the mound is posterior to the just mentioned graves, and the latter, judging by their mcesan's, could not be very old either. It is very unlikely that they date from a time preceding the foundation of Batavia (1619). More probably they were made after the founda¬ tion of the kampong, which might have taken place around 1700/

Very remarkable is the fact that, when the graves deteriorated—probably because no more relations of the deceased lived in Batavia—they were not abandoned as usually is the case, but were made into a mound crowned by one upright stone. It is well-known that Mohammedan graves in Java are always marked by two stones or wooden poles, one at each end of the corpse.

This one stone seems to be considered holy; I found traces of flowers and incense at its foot. One is tempted to call it a menhir.

As seen on figure 1, a number of smooth cylindrical stones are assembled at this holy place. Their shape is strongly reminiscent of gandik's—stone rollers for crushing medicinal ingredients on the pipisan, which are considered all over the Archipelago to be charged with magic powers; in case they are broken, a wayang performance is required in Java in order to neutralize the released powers.

These smooth stones of oblong shape were obviously collected on purpose. Even in mountain streams they have to be searched for, but in the marshy regions of Batavia only at three kilometer's distance from the coast they must be exceedingly rare. Therefore their presence 011 the mound accentuates its holiness—a holiness, however, of quite a different kind from that of holy Mohammedan graves. It might be noteworthy in addition that the comparatively well preserved mcesan's, that easily could have been put up again and used to demarkate one or more graves, were left lying about. No trouble whatever was taken to re¬ install them in order to keep the Mohammedan character of the spot. One gets the impression that people wanted to forget about that.

I believe that there can be no doubt about the genuine old-indigenous back¬ ground and authentically revived megalithic form in this case. Clearly we have here an instance of a spontaneous revival of old-indigenous stone worship. In its present urban surroundings this "neo-megalith" is an archaism of purest water.

»■ The kampong might have belonged to Kampong Angke which was one of the places where Balinese slaves were allowed to settle by the Dutch East India Company. There are many traces of megalithic culture in Bali (see "Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie, Vol. 92, 1934, p. 185 if.).

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Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries p. v. van stein callenfei.s

The Age of Bronze Kettledrums

By Dr. P. V. van Stein Caleenfees, o.b.e.

Plate DXV

During the last five years, several papers have been written on the Bronze Age in southeastern Asia, wherein the date of the type of bronze civilisation using kettledrums was considered to be of the first or second century A.D.1 For the most part, these statements refer to the able and well-known work of Dr. A. N. J. van der Hoop on "Megalithic Monuments in South Sumatra", wherein the writer, discussing the few instances in which stone images appear with kettledrums in Pasemah (Palembang Highlands) has tried to definitely, date the civilisation to which these images belong and has tentatively proposed that date on the authority of Dr. V. Goloubew in his "I/Age du Bronze au Tonkin".2

In this interesting and important work, Dr. Goloubew discusses among other things, finds from graves near D'ong Son in North-Annam. In some of these graves were objects (bronze swords, mirrors, etc.) of purely Chinese type belonging to the Han period and there were even Chinese coins, several of them from the reign of the usurper Wang Mang (9-23 A.D.).3

Dr. Goloubew also mentions kettledrums among the articles from the graves and it is 011 this evidence that Dr. van der Hoop and the authors who refer to him have based their estimate of the age of the bronze civilisation with kettledrums at 100-200 A.D.

Dr. Goloubew, in his account of the kettledrums from French Indo-China, unfortunately gives only scanty information about the drums that were found in the D'ong Son graves. One most important fact is, however, especially mentioned, that is the occurrence in some of the graves of very small kettledrums, and these finds are all the more important since a similar small kettledrum was found some years ago on an estate near Soekabcemi (West-Java). This specimen is 9-9 cms. high and 67 cms. in diameter across the tympanum, and is now in the Batavia Museum. (PI. hXV).

It is well known that among different civilisations in most parts of the world, the custom of burying or burning valuable objects with a dead person degenerated into the practice of substituting for those things which could still be useful to the living small and valueless copies. It is moreover reasonable to suppose that it took some time for the original pious custom to develop into such a method of cheating the dead and the gods.

'• Lately for instance Mr. Roland Braddell's "An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Times in the Malay Peninsula and the Straits of " in the Journ. Malayan Br. Roy. Asiatic Soc. XIII part 2, 1935. '■ Bull, de I.'Bcole Francaise d'Extreme Orient XXIX. 3- Op. sit. page 11.

[ I50 ] Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries KULI,. RAFFLES MUS., SER. B, VOL. I, NO. 3, 1937. PLATE LXV

Fig. 2.

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries THR AGE OF BRONZE KETTLEDRUMS

The occurrence of the tiny kettledrums in the D'ong Son graves of the first and second centuries A.D. is convincing proof that, at that time, kettledrums, as objects of value, must have already been known for a long time, and that the date of those graves can only be used as a terminus ante quern in the solution of the problem of the age of the kettledrums.

The study of the development of the ornament on the drums will give a better insight to the problem. There is decoration on the tympanum, on the handles (generally four) and on the upright sides. Of the ornament on the handles we can be brief. If it does occur at all, it is a more or less accurate imitation of ropes.

The decoration of the tympanum will become more important when more is known about the history of the development of the kettledrum. There is always a star in the centre1, but the number of points is not always the same, and we are not yet able to decide whether this difference in the number of the rays has any special meaning. Round this central star, geometric ornament is applied in concentric circles. This ornament deserves careful study because important conclusions bearing on the dating may be drawn from its character when the problem has been gone into in detail. The tangent-spirals, which are so popular in Indonesian ornament, will probably be of great importance. In all the older types at least, one of the concentric circles has flying birds for ornament. These birds are usually herons or hornbills, and the bird-motif only disappears in very late specimens.

For our present purpose, the decoration on the upright sides is the most important because of the clues it gives to the problem of the relative age of the kettledrums.

From Tonkin a few specimens are known in which the ornament chiefly consists of scenes from daily life, ships, etc., and Dr. Goloubew has already drawn attention to the resemblance of the ships to those in modern Dayak pictures of the Ship of the Dead. He has also pointed out that the other scenes from daily life, such as warriors dancing, rice-pounding, etc., may well represent funeral ceremonies and that they show affinities with modern Dayak customs. Both men and objects in these pictures are adorned with feathers, chiefly of the argus pheasant and hornbill, which also play a prominent part amongst the body ornaments of Dayaks.2

Kettledrums with this type of ornament are known only from Tonkin and have not yet been found elsewhere.

The type which is much more widely spread is the one in which the scenes from daily life have become highly conventionalized and consist only of stylized feathers, and it is only by comparing this type with the more realistic Tonkin ornament that the original motif of the decoration can be traced. It is worth mentioning that the ships keep their natural shape for the longest time of all

»• Probably representing the sun. s- Op. cit. sup.

Mus. Ser. B, Vol. I, No. 3, 1937- [ 151 ]

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries P. V. VAN STEIN CAELENFELS

and still occur on kettledrums where all the other scenes of daily life have degenerated into feathery ornament. This second type of decoration, known from Indo-China, spread to the south and reached the Archipelago, where it is not uncommon.

It is quite obvious that we must regard the first type of ornament with the scenes from daily life as the original and the kettledrums on which it appears as the oldest. The second type, is without doubt derived from the first, and the drums with this ornament must be regarded as of later date. Moreover it seems probable that those drums on which the ships remain quite distinct, although the other ornament has become conventionalized, represent an older sub-type than the drums on which even the ships have become more or less unrecognizable.

The further development of the ornament leads to a total disappearance of all traces of the feathery pattern and only purely geometric designs are used.

The occurence of the feathery ornament both in Tonkin and the Archipelago, shows that at the period to which this type of kettledrum belongs, the bronze age in southeast Asia was still uniform; but even during this period the first traces of divergence already appear.

The kettledrum of Saleyer (still in situ as an highly venerated heirloom with strong magical powers' has on the upright sides a row of feathery ornament, another row in which the ships are quite discernable, and a lowest row of naturalistic elephants, herons, coco-nut palms, etc., which are forms quite unknown on the kettledrums from the continent.

In the Museum at Batavia is a drum from Savu with a somewhat similar ornament of naturalistic peacocks, etc. The divergence in local development is completed in the latest period of pure geometric ornament. Although this development is encountered in all the parts of south China and Further India where kettledrums are found, every area follows its own line of evolution. In the Archipelago, a number of prehistoric drums and parts of drums have been found, and local subdivisions of this last stage of the bronze age are even possible in the design of the geometric and conventionalized ornament. Extensive detail-studies will be necessary in order to understand this problem and a few of the chief points have already been mentioned in the chapter on the bronze age in the writer's "Korte Gids voor de Prehistorische Verzameling van bet Koniklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen"2.

It may be accepted as a fact that the kettledrums with the scenes from daily life represent the oldest stage; those with the feathery ornament have developed from this earliest type and are of the second stage of development, with the possibility that an older and a later sub-stage may be established dependent on the degree of convention in the design of the ships; and the drums with purely geometric ornament belong to the latest stage.

1- The second largest in the world; the biggest is the specimen kept in the temple at Pejeng (Bali). Batavia 1934.

[ 152 ] Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries the age of bronze kettledrums

Now, as far as can be ascertained, the small sized kettledrums from graves belong to the period characterized by geometric ornament and represent the latest stage of the Bronze Age in Southeast Asia, for which we may accept the date of about too A.D. although it is quite probable that at this time iron had already been introduced into this part of the world. It has still to be decided whether iron reached the southeast by way of China or India, but although this metal had been known in China for centuries, iron only supplanted bronze for swords and came into general use during the Han dynasty, and it is quite possible that compared with the South, Tonkin, under Chinese influence, was backward as far as the use of iron was concerned, while in the Archipelago Indian influence had already developed about 100 A.D. Since it is certain that the Bronze Age with small sized kettledrums and drums with geometric ornament was in existence in Tonkin and north Annam about the year 100 A.D. the drums with feathery ornament and still more certainly, those with scenes from daily life, must be much older.

All the known evidence goes to show that southeast Asia received its bronze from the north-west through Yunnan. In China proper, (the Hoangho and Wei valleys), the first traces of bronze appear about 1,500 B.C. and by about 1,100 B.C. the Bronze-age was well developed (Anyang). At what date bronze reached Yunnan and then the south is still unknown, but it seems safe to accept a later date than that of its appearance in China proper. On the other hand, the development of the scenes from daily life into the feather ornament and their final replacement by purely geometric designs, as well as the degeneration of burial customs as proved by the occurence of the small kettledrums in graves, must have certainly needed a considerable space of time.

Until there has been further research, which the subject well deserves as it is of the greatest importance to the whole of southeast Asia, I am inclined to tentatively put the date of the Bronze Age with the oldest type of ornament at 600-500 B.C., that with the feathery ornament, which spread also to the South, at about 400-300 B.C. and that with the geometric ornament from about 100 B.C. until it was replaced by Hindu influence and iron.

Wonosobo, 25th March, 1937.

Mus. Ser. B, Vol. i, No. 3, 1037. C 153 ]

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries m. w. f. tweedie

Minor Excavations carried out in caves in Pahang and Johore

By M. W. F. Tweedie, m.a. Pahang.

Early in September, 1935 the writer was enabled through the hospitality of Mr. V. B. C. Baker, Manager of the Pahang Consolidated Co., to stay at the Company's mine at Sungai Eembing, in the neighbourhood of which were found the stone implements discovered by Mr. G. W. Thomson and described by Mr. H. D. Collings in Bull. Raffles Mus., vSer. B, Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 124.

Two limestone hills were visited and trenches dug in caves therein. Bukit Charas.—This hill stands in Kuala Reman rubber estate east of Sungai Eembing. A cave was located at the top of a scree slope. It did not penetrate far into the hill and could be defined as a shallow cave or a deep rock-shelter. Two trial trenches were dug in different parts of the cave and the most remarkable find was a continuous layer of ash and charcoal encountered in both trenches at a depth of about six inches below the surface, the layer being not more than two or three inches thick. No artefacts were found in this layer but numerous lumps of hardened resin were present (cf. Tweedie, Bull. Raffles Mus., Ser. B, 1, p. 23). It would be of the greatest interest to make a thorough search in this cave for typological material to throw light on the cultural affinities of the race responsible for this layer.

In one of the trenches, at a depth of about three feet, an oval, flaked stone implement was found (R.M. No. 35.347) of a type common in the Malayan cave deposits. Bukit Sagu.—This hill is situated about eight miles north-east of Sungai Eembing,, and can be approached by a jungle path. A small rock-shelter was located a few feet above the foot of the hill overlooking a stream, an ideal site for habitation. Having spent the night in the rock-shelter the writer with a Dyak collector and four Malays spent the next morning digging a trial trench. Shards of pottery were numerous (R. M. 35.346). Almost all were of coarse ware, cord-marked, and differing from the pottery usually found in the Malayan caves in its poorer quality and distinct red colour, in contrast to the more common dark brown or . black. One shard (Fig. 1 a) is of finer quality and of interest in that it is ornamented with both cord-marked and impressed patterns. The latter consists of small, regularly spaced indentations, possibly made with a sharpened stick, the pattern being very similar to that on a shard from Bukit Chuping, (R.M. No. 36.143) and illustrated in Bull. Raffles Mus., Ser. B, Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 106, No. 3. Most of the pottery was found at a depth of between six inches and one foot six inches.

Four stone implements were encountered : a broken implement similar to the one found in Bukit Charas, a small flaked, discoid tool, a small scraper of

[ 154 1 Bull. Raffles

Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries minor excavations carried out in caves in pahang and johore

Fig. i. the "Debu" type (R.M. Nos. 35-345 b, c, e.) and a broken fragment of a ground implement (R.M. No. 35.345a). The last probably consists of about one third of the original artefact, and is ground on two sides over the whole of the surface, except the fracture, a sharp, continuous edge being produced. It does not conform to any of the types hitherto found in the Malayan caves, as it is far more extensively ground than any "protoneolith", but no attempt seems to have been made to shape it to the definite, symmetrical form so typical of the true neoliths of this county. It is illustrated in Fig. 1, b. I am indebted to Mr. H. D. Collings for his opinions 011 the artefacts from these two sites and for his kindness in making the drawings for the figures. Johore. In February, 1936, trial trenches were dug in rock-shelters formed by large granite boulders. One site, near Parit Sulong, between Yong Peng and Muar, yielded no signs of artefacts of any kind. Another, larger shelter on the slopes of Mount Ophir (Gunong Kledang) was excavated, but nothing was found beyond burnt wood and ash and some shards of recent Chinese pottery, all in the superficial layers. No evidence was encountered suggesting that these small granite rock- shelters in the south of the peninsula were inhabited during the Malayan stone-age.

Mus- Ser. B, Vol. I, No. 3, 1937. [ 155 ]

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Zoology, Ethnology and Archaeology of the Malaysian Sub-region

Director F. N. Chasen, C.M.Z.S.

Curator M. W. F. Tweedie, M.A., (Cantab.)

Assistant Curator H. D. Collings, B.A., (Cantab.)

Librarian K. E. Savage Bailey

Taxidermist Vacant

29914—400—1/38

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