Ancient History: Indonesian Heritage

Abstract

"Ancient History: Indonesian Heritage" by John Miksic is reviewed.

Ancient History: Indonesian Heritage. John Miksic.. Singapore: Archipelago Press, 1996.

Reviewed by MIRIAM T. STARK, University of Hawai'i

In the world of Southeast Asian archaeology, we are only just beginning to learn about the vast ancient history of Indonesia. Ancient History: Indonesian Heritage is stunning and panoramic in scope, as it describes the heritage of a country containing more than 13,600 islands and the world's fourth largest population today. Contributions by international experts in various fields (archaeology, art history, epigraphy, literature) are engaging and clearly written. This volume is part of the twelve-volume Indonesian Heritage series. Other volumes in the series focus on topics as diverse as the human environment, early modern history, plants, wildlife, religion and ritual, and the performing arts. One goal of Ancient History is to provide a scholarly introduction to the world of Indonesian history, archaeology, and art history. One of the volume's primary contributions to archaeology lies in its dual focus on the prehistoric and historic periods.

The volume's nine sections, each containing multiple contributions, cover more than a million years of prehistory and history. The argument that we cannot divorce history from archaeology and vice versa provides a unifying thread throughout Ancient History. Its introductory section weaves together indigenous and Western methods of documentation and reckoning time (scripts, calendrical systems, and archaeological techniques). The volume's next section begins in deepest prehistory, with the Pleistocene hominids of Java, and examines key Holocene transitions that are found elsewhere in island Southeast Asia: the development of foraging adaptations and of early population movement, and the shift toward plant and animal domestication. Several sections then address aspects of emergent political complexity through different areas of Indonesia, with special focus on Java, Bali, and Sumatra. The high caliber of entries in this section reflects their authors, who are expert archaeologists with decades of experience in various topics. Color illustrations of pollen records, isotopic chronology, Pleistocene stratigraphy, and artifacts provide excellent supporting materials for the text, and give readers a glimpse into the nature of archaeological research.

The next major section, "Indonesia at the Dawn of History," bridges the transition from the prehistoric period and the era in which the earliest written documents exist from Indonesia. This period witnessed the development of international maritime trade networks throughout much of Southeast Asia. The volume describes several locales in the Indonesian archipelago that developed in response to demands for trade during this time. The fact that several religious ideologies (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam) swept through Indonesia during the past two millennia may explain why so many traditional histories of the region have focused on the transformative nature of such contact. Few archaeologists today embrace that approach. Like historians O. W. Wolters (and van Leur before him), most contributors to this volume assert that Indonesians adopted external ideas and technology selectively. Through time, they argue, local populations incorporated these foreign elements into a thoroughly Indonesian expression.

Nearly one-half of Ancient History is devoted to studies of the Classic period, which began in the eighth century with the emergence of Sriwijaya (southeast Sumatra) and Mataram (south-central Java). The oldest standing buildings of Indonesia date to this period, as does the earliest writing and the Javanese temple complexes of Borobodur and Prambanan. The volume divides the Classic period into four sections: (1) Early Classic period; (2) Life in Early Classic Indonesia; (3) Middle Classic Period; and (4) Late Classic Period: fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Archaeological approaches dominate the first section of the volume, but art and architectural historians provide the foundation for much of what we know about the Classic period of Indonesia. One can, however, feel the editor's hand in this section of the volume, as John Miksic constantly seeks a balance between art historical concerns (architecture, iconography, sculpture, and religion) and more conventional archaeological concerns (economy, daily activities, and political structure). The section ends with a detailed discussion of the Majapahit Empire, which was the largest empire that ever emerged in Southeast Asia. J. Miksic's contributions emphasize the role Majapahit played in unifying what we now recognize as Indonesia. Two shorter sections, the early Islamic period (A.D. 1300-1600) and the heritage of Indonesian literature, conclude the volume with thoughtful discussions of architecture, commercial life, Islamic beliefs, and literature.

Ancient History has an ambitious and, possibly, unattainable goal: to capture fully the deep, rich cultural heritage of the region's largest and most diverse country. Such a goal is perhaps impossible in a single volume for any country of the world. Contributors throughout this volume also point out gaps in our current knowledge of Indonesian archaeology, art history, and architecture. As one example, our knowledge of Pleistocene archaeology is biased by millennia of geomorphological processes (particularly erosion and alluviation) and sea-level changes that have altered the landscape and covered archaeological sites. Authors also point out gaps in our knowledge of Indonesia's architectural history, despite detailed and substantial architectural descriptions in the volume's contributions. Chinese visitors to the region described wooden architecture that included palaces and commoners' homes; our only knowledge of ancient wooden architecture, other than the occasional remains of a pile dwelling, is found in bas-reliefs from Borobodur. Contemporary civilizations in India and in mainland Southeast Asia had vibrant brick architectural traditions before the tenth century; most brick architectural remains in Indonesia have been eradicated by centuries of subsequent construction and brick recycling.

This volume has many strengths, not the least of which is its mixture of scholarly text and abundant illustrations (maps, drawings, photographs, and charts). It appeals most to readers with interests in either archaeology or art history. Students of Southeast Asian religions will find ample discussion of the nature and impact of various ideologies (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim) on Indonesian culture, and those interested in Indonesian literature will not be disappointed. This reviewer particularly enjoyed the volume's section on prehistory, with its discussions of Pleistocene archaeology (by A.-M. Semah, F. Semah, D. Grimaud-Herve, H. Widianto, and H. T. Simanjuntak), succinct reviews of the Austronesian hypothesis (P. Bellwood), and emergent complexity in Bali and Java (I. W. Ardika). Archaeologically inclined readers will also appreciate P. Manguin's updated discussions of Sriwijaya and architectural studies by J. Dumarcay and J. Miksic, and the anthropological orientation to life in early classic Indonesia that includes studies of agriculture (Ph. Subroto), economy (J. Christie), and settlement patterns (Mundardjito). The extensive section on Majapahit is an excellent primer on fourteenthto-sixteenth-century Indonesia, and the inclusion of the early Islamic period illustrates the continuity from an indigenous past to the present.

Readers generally expect book reviewers to provide crisp, trenchant critiques that highlight both the contributions and problems inherent in a particular publication. Ancient History, however, eludes this kind of criticism: its target audience is an educated public, rather than the global community of Southeast Asian archaeologists. Accordingly, the volume seeks to document aspects of Indonesia's rich cultural heritage rather than provide closely argued theoretical arguments that we associate with academic publications. Ancient History emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary research and the place of archaeological insights for understanding points along the entire trajectory of human history in the region. As an educational tool, Indonesian Heritage: Ancient History is precisely the type of book that persuades readers to delve deeper into aspects of Indonesia's deep and multifaceted human history. Archaeologists, art historians, historians, and specialists in historic preservation all benefit from such carefully edited and amply illustrated publications as Ancient History.