restricted to one site, near Gilimanuk in West Bali. As already stated in Chapter 1, Gilimanuk is separated from East Java only by the narrow Bali Straits. It is no wonder that, having walked the entire length of Java's east corner, some early settlers did not resist crossing the straits.
In 1961 Mr. Soejono, at that time directing the Archaeological Service's Bali Branch, learned that certain pottery fragments and neolithic adzes had been found at Cekik, south of Gilimanuk, during World War II. In the following years (1963, 1964, 1973) he directed staff members and students from three universities in successful excavations which covered 137.5 square meters to a depth of 1.75-3.25 meters, and which may be extended further southwest. The results have already proved highly important: in addition to the remains of a settlement, some 100 burials of male and female adults and children, accompanied by funeral gifts, were discovered.
The site revealed four layers in its soil structure. The third from the top contained settlement remains as well as a few burials. Most of the burials were concentrated below that level, in the upper part of the fourth layer. Finds in the habitation level were stray artifacts, "lost property," mostly fragmentary. The funeral gifts, which had been carefully placed in the graves, were in much better condition. The skeletons were usually found with the skulls roughly at the graves' southern end, facing Gilimanuk Bay. Various burial methods, within a limited number of general patterns for deposing the dead, were utilized. Skeletons were found in several positions: extended, semi-flexed, squatting, dorsal with spread knees, kneeling, prostrate. Some rested alone in the grave; others were accompanied by a second body either in identical position or facing the opposite direction. Sometimes a second body was placed atop an earlier burial. Skeletons occasionally lacked the skull (which may have been preserved separately), sometimes also shin bones, feet, or other bodily parts (to keep the dead from walking around?). In certain graves, skeletons of dogs and pigs (sacrificed to accompany the dead in the hereafter?) were found.
Earthenware vessels served as funerary goods. They were often decorated by impressing network into the clay. Yellow and red paint were used for coloring. Bronze wristlets, ankle and ear rings, axes with heart- or crescent-shaped blades, iron spearheads and a few daggers refer to an early Metal (Bronze) Age. Glass had been used for wristlets and beads, shells for armlets and simple tools (in the habitation layer). From the similarity of the funeral gifts with those in inland sarcophagi, the discoverer inferred a close contact between the peoples concerned.
The graves are "uncovered" burials (corpses interred without covers or containers). There are, however, two instances of urn burials. Here two jars stood vertically in the ground, one atop the other. The upper jar was upside-down; the lower jar contained the complete bones of a single person, collected after the corpse had wasted away (resulting in a "secondary burial"). There were no gifts or other objects. The upper jar acted as a cover. (The use of complete jars for this purpose had been known in other sites in the archipelago.) Under one of the jars was a prostrate skeleton; its legs, folded backwards, indicate an intentional killing. The combination of two bodies and the various ornaments accompanying the uncovered burials, as well as the variety of burial methods, would seem to indicate different social ranks.
The racial affinities of the persons buried might be generally described as basic (Palaeo-) Mongoloid in origin, like most Balinese, and for that matter like many other Indonesian peoples found generally in the western parts of the archipelago.
EARLY METAL AGE
Early Metal (Bronze) Age civilization spread to Indonesia through South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, probably beginning in southern China during the 8th or 7th century B.C., after West Eurasian influences had reached the Far East via Central Asia. Northern China had been well versed in bronze techniques since the beginning of the Shang dynasty, around 1500 B.C. From South China, Bronze Age culture spread to the northern provinces of modern-day Vietnam (Tonkin and Annam) where important centers arose. This culture was named "Dongson" from its type site, Dongson in northern Annam. The earliest finds in this category in Vietnam date from the 4th or 3rd century B.C.; bronze-casting techniques may, however, have been introduced there earlier.
Hence Dongsonian influences expanded to the south and eventually reached Indonesia. Bronze Age objects have been found as far east as Lake Sentani in Western New Guinea. Although the original Dongson culture died out during the first century A.D. because of Chinese political pressure, similar bronze objects may have been made elsewhere after that. Thus, for instance, various objects such as socketed celts, armlets, and kettledrums in some way or other related with Dongsonian styles in shape and decoration, have been found in Indonesia. In due course, indigenous bronze casters developed types and methods of their own. Clay and stone molds have been discovered in West Java as well as in Bali (Manuaba).
Among the stray finds from Bali which found their way to collectors is a bell shaped like two bowls. Slipped over the end of a stick, such bells were used in the accompaniment of dances; the bell contained a pellet that rattled when the stick was shaken. Its decoration points to Dongsonian influences.
SARCOPHAGI
A highly elaborate prehistoric way of disposing of and respectfully caring for the dead was with the sarcophagus. Hewn out of stone, the sarcophagus consisted of a lower and upper part.
Since preparation techniques usually required metal tools, most megaliths cannot have been made before the Metal Age. Different types of megalithic monuments, such as dolmens, stone cists, stone chambers, stone vats, and stone sculptures, have been found in various places in Southeast Asia. Among them sarcophagi are the least common. In all Southeast Asia the most notable, if not only, old concentrations of sarcophagi are in Besuki (East Java) and in Bali. In a 1973 report, 53 sarcophagi are mentioned as a result of comprehensive explorations at 37 different sites in Bali. Almost all had been damaged by unauthorized diggings before archaeologists reached them. The material generally used for sarcophagi was soft tuff; only incidentally was harder rock (brecci or coral) chosen. Specimens vary in size from large (227-268 cm) to medium (150-170 cm) to small (84-134 cm). Most common are the small ones, destined for a single flexed corpse. Even smaller specimens may have been used for secondary burials of bones from previously decayed corpses (a function similar to the Gilimanuk jars). Compared with sarcophagi makers in other countries (who had exceedingly hard rock to carve), the Balinese with their soft tuff had an easy job. They used this freedom to give each body an individualized stone coffin. A complete list of the great variety of sarcophagi found in Bali—seven or eight types subdivided into numerous sub-types—almost rivals in length the mere record of individual specimens so far discovered.
Figure 8: The Petang sarcophagus. Pejeng Museum, Bedulu. Skeleton in flexed position.
Figure 9: The Taman Bali sarcophagus. Pejeng Museum, Bedulu.
Apart from their size and overall shape, Balinese sarcophagi are characterized by knobs which protrude from the long sides of the large specimens, and from the short sides of the small ones. These knobs are either rounded, disc-shaped, square, rectangular, or septilateral. Some are decorated with masks or human heads, with static, frightening, sometimes "funny" expressions, with protruding tongues. In a way, such faces fit very well with later Balinese demonic masks. One curious variety (from Taman Bali) shows the human head and the curved back of a creepy zoo-anthropomorphic figure on both the upper and lower parts of the sarcophagus. Although decorative in intention, the carved knobs apparently served some other functional purpose as well. Perhaps they bound both parts together if only for keeping the dead from disturbing the living (in accord with funeral usages all over the world). Or else they provided a hold when transporting the heavy stones with ropes or rattan strips; some of the knobs show grooves and rope marks.
Most of the sarcophagi were partially robbed of their contents before archaeological investigation. Still, some contained various objects placed with the dead for use in the hereafter, such as miniature bronze hoes or shovels. In many countries, funeral gifts are not life-size but miniature replicas or paper imitations, which are cheaper