<< News >> Indonesian tomb raiders find treasure trove
Submitted by coldrum on Friday, 02 February 2007 Page Views: 4130
Site WatchCountry: Indonesia Farmers have sold hundreds of gold artefacts stolen from skeletal corpses unearthed at a newly-found ancient burial complex in Indonesia, media reported yesterday.Skeletons wearing chains of gold rings around their necks, heads, hands and feet were found in the tombs in a rice field at Kendal Jaya village, about 60km east of Jakarta, the Seputar Indonesia daily said.
They were buried with other accessories made of precious stones or gold as well as axes and other pottery articles.
Between 15 and 25 people are estimated to have been buried at the site at a depth of about 1.5m. Archaeologists expressed concern at reports that hundreds of villagers have been selling gold necklaces and ornaments they found at the site over the past week.
"We only take the gold, because we can sell it for 120,000 rupiah ($13) per gram," local farmer Surip, 29, who has been digging for the past week, told the paper.
Rumasih, 40, said she had collected around 100 grams in the past week.
"I have bought 100 grams, this week alone. And there are many other buyers here, so most likely there are hundreds of grams found so far," she said, adding that she sold the gold at a local market.
The newspaper estimated that already hundreds of kilograms of gold ornaments and jewellery had been taken from the site.
"They shouldn’t have sold the findings, there are laws against it," Peter Ferdinandus, from the ministry of education’s Archaeological Study, said.
"We should quickly investigate this and stop what they’re doing. And if possible get back whatever has been sold off," he said.
There has been no official announcement on the find and the archaeologist said he only heard of it from the media.
Ferdinandus, who has worked on an archaeological site near the new finds since 1993, said the graves could date from the Buni people who lived around the second century AD, roughly 1,800-1,900 years ago.
"In the Batu Jaya ancient temple site we found traces of the Buni people. Carbon dating results estimated the complex to be from around the second century AD," he said.
There are 24 ancient Buddhist temples in the Batu Jaya complex. – AFP
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