In the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, may be the remains of the long-lost island of gold. These tales tell of man-eating snakes and fire-belching volcanoes. There is also gold, which can be found at the river's bottom.
Divers have found hundreds of ceramics, tools and mirrors in the bottom of the muddy river. They found gold-and ruby rings and golden sword hilts, as well as carved wine jugs, wine jars, and flutes that look like peacocks.
All these treasures point to one thing: Scientists discovered the city of Srivijaya. It was once a powerful and wealthy port on the ocean trade route that connected East and West. Srivijaya was ruled over the Straits of Malacca by a king between the mid-600s to 1025 when the city was defeated by the Indian Chola Dynasty. According to historians, Srivijaya lost its influence over the Straits of Malacca, but trade continued there for two more centuries. Parameswara, the last Srivijayan ruler, tried to regain control over trade in the area in the 1390s but was defeated by forces from Java. After that, Srivijaya became a haven of Chinese pirates.
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Today, there are almost no vestiges of Srivijaya's glory days, except for the glittering artifacts that divers pulled from the river. Official archaeological excavations have never been done in the area of the river. Artifacts are sold on the global antiques market to private collectors. This means that even though artifacts are finally found to point to Srivijaya's location, there is not much physical evidence of daily life there. Sean Kingsley, marine archaeologist, editor of Wreckwatch magazine, recently wrote about the missing Isle of Gold.
Kingsley said that "We're starting from ground zero." It's almost like going into a museum, but it's empty. It is not known what Srivijaya's people wore or what their tastes were. They also don't know what ceramics they liked. We don't know much about them, in life and in death.
Waterworld
The archaeological excavations of Palembang in Indonesia, the modern Sumatran capital near Srivijaya's former home, have yielded only a few clues to the once-wealthy port. There are brick temples and a few inscriptions. The majority of information about the city is provided by foreigners who have written about their trips to Srivijaya. Kingsley stated that these merchants and tourists described a world where J.K. Rowling's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was merged with Lord of the Rings. They described volcanoes spewing smoke and fire, man-eating serpents, parrots capable of imitating Hindi, Greek, and Arabic, as well as well-armed sailors who were willing to attack any vessel trying to enter Srivijaya. Although these accounts provide a good sense of the city, they are often oversimplified and don't reveal much about the daily life in the port.
According to Pierre-Yves Manguin's 2006 report, Srivijaya paid for Buddhist temples to be built in India and China during the 10th century. According to a 2019 report by the Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology, the city also paid tribute to China. They gave ivory, crystal statues and perfumes as well as coral, pearls and rhinoceros horn. Kingsley stated that Srivijaya was blessed with a wealth of natural resources in the area, including valuable plants like sandalwood and camphor. The Musi River eroded out gold deposits naturally.
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This map shows Srivijaya's extent around the eighth century. CC BY 3.0 (Image credit Gunawan Kartapranata
How could such an affluent civilization disappear without a trace? It is possible that Srivijaya consisted mainly of wooden structures built directly on top of the river. You can still see this water-world style architecture on many rivers in Southeast Asia. The houses are built on rafts, and then glued together to form a floating city. Kingsley stated that most structures in Srijivaya would have rotted within a few years, but there might be a few stumps and posts.
Kingsley suggested that it is possible that Srivijaya's site could have been buried by a geological event related to Sumatra’s volcanic activity.
Srivijaya's disappearance
When construction workers began to drag sand from Musi River for large-scale construction projects, 2011, the signs that the Musi River may hold the secrets of Srivijaya's past emerged. Many local fishermen and workers became divers by using compressed air tanks attached to hoses to inhale as they probed the river's bottom with iron rods. In a 2012 paper at the European Association of Southeast Asian Archeologists conference, John Miksic, a professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, stated that this amateur method often caused damage, such as to porcelain. According to Miksic's 2012 newsletter article, artifacts included bronze Buddha statues, glass beads and stamps that imprint words onto clay. Scale weights were probably used by merchants.
According to the 2019 Australian report, there were a lot of artifacts that likely date back to Srivijaya's heyday between 2011 and 2015. These were the most important Musi River discoveries. Miksic stated in 2012 that objects of less commercial value were sold around Palembang.
Miksic sent an email to Live Science stating that he believed the looting was still ongoing. Palembang: "The river is wide (1 km [0.6 mi] wide). Similar activity was reported in Jambi's Batanghari, which is the next major river north of Palembang.
The difficulty of studying objects is made more difficult by the fragmentation of objects sold piecemeal. In the absence of any government or academic effort to protect the site's integrity, some artifacts were purchased by dedicated collectors who tried to keep them all together. The Australian report 2019 focuses on the ceramics collection owned by Darrell John Kitchener (Australia) and Heny Kustiarsih (Australia). Ceramics reveal a history of close ties with China. There are pieces from China dating back to the 800s, as well as pottery from China that can be found in the river.
Kingsley stated that there are significant obstacles to systematic excavation of the Musi River. After two major shipwrecks from the ninth and 10th centuries were found and sold, Indonesia was subject to international criticism. The first, the Belitung, was discovered in 1998. However, the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore managed to secure the Belitung wreck. The artifacts of the Cirebon wreck were sold by the Indonesian government. Alarmed archaeologists demanded that the artifacts be kept together. The government took 10% of the artifacts back and declared a moratorium for underwater archaeology in 2010. Kingsley stated that no one knows how many of the artifacts saved are still in the country.
A Musi official archaeological survey would prove difficult due to the moratorium and lack of resources dedicated to cultural heritage in Indonesia. Kingsley stated that the moratorium didn't protect the Musi River artifacts.
He said, "Fishermen never stop fishing and they never stop discovering." "Now is the best time for them to report any finds to authorities. The black market flourishes because underwater archaeology is underground.
Kingsley suggested that it might not be too late for the government to buy artifacts from wealthy collectors, which would preserve the last vestiges of this world of luxury and wealth for everyone.
Kingsley stated, "This is the last great forgotten civilization that nobody's heard of." It is our duty to save it from oblivion.
Original publication on Live Science
