YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA—Rice and maize grains dating to sometime between the eighth and tenth centuries have been found in a bamboo basket on the slope of Mount Sindoro in Central Java. Joko Siswanto, head of the Yogyakarta Archaeology Agency, says that the maize and other imported artifacts such as Chinese vases from the Tang Dynasty suggest that Indonesia was part of an international trade network at this time. “The finding is also crucial to help us trace the history of food cultivation and technology in Indonesia, especially in Java,” he told The Jakarta Post. To read more about contemporary sites on Borneo, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "Letter From Borneo: Landscape of Memory."
Preserved Grains & Trade Goods Unearthed in Indonesia
News October 31, 2014
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