Indonesia's Oldest Civilizations: From Rock Art, Ancient Human Fossils, The Megalithic Era to Kingdoms

UNGKIT.COM - Indonesia is not just a country founded a few decades ago, but also a multi-layered civilization with extraordinary historical traces.

Civilizations and traces of human habitation in Indonesia are recorded across various ages, from the oldest prehistoric rock art to written kingdoms.

Prehistoric rock art was discovered in Leang Karampuang, Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi, and Leang Metanduno, in Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi.

In Leang Karampuang, the world's oldest narrative rock painting was discovered, dating back approximately 51,200 years. Meanwhile, Leang Metanduno (Metanduno Cave) contains ancient paintings in the form of handprints (stencils), estimated to be up to 67,800 years old.

In addition to paintings, ancient human fossils have also been found in Indonesia. In fact, approximately 60 percent of all ancient fossil finds worldwide come from Indonesia, with sites ranging in age from 1.8 million years ago to tens of thousands of years old.

Traces of ancient civilizations in Indonesia are also evidenced by the discovery of numerous megalithic, or large stone age, sites, most of which are found on the island of Sumatra.

Lahat Regency, also known as the Pasemah Plateau in South Sumatra Province, holds the record from the Indonesian World Record Museum (MURI) for having the most megalithic sites and artifacts.

This region is nicknamed the "Land of a Thousand Megaliths" because it boasts dozens of sites and thousands of prehistoric stone artifacts. 

These remains include human and animal statues, dolmens, menhirs, stone mortars, stone tombs (stone chambers), and relief stones dating back approximately 2,000 to 3,000 years.

The oldest kingdoms based on written historical evidence are the Kutai Kingdom in East Kalimantan and the Tarumanegara Kingdom in West Java.

The Kutai Kingdom is considered the oldest kingdom in Indonesia, having existed in the 4th century AD, or around 400 AD, as evidenced by the discovery of the Yupa Inscription using the Pallava script.

Meanwhile, the Tarumanegara Kingdom, or Taruma Kingdom, existed around the same time, in the 4th century AD.

The oldest archaeological evidence of this kingdom is the Ciaruteun inscription, a 5th-century CE memorial stone marked with the footprint of King Purnawarman. (*)

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