2007 Profile

Save the Heart of Kalimantan

_______________

by Bayu Dwi Mardana Kusuma. In The National Geographic Indonesia November 2006 Edition

Tiwah: The Art of Death in Southern Kalimantan

Abstrak

Di Kalimantan Tengah terdapat masyarakat yang masih memelihara adat mengelola kematian, yang merupakan bagian tak terpisahkan dari kepercayaan Kaharingan, sampai sekarang di antaranya adalah kelompok etnis Dayak Ngaju (or Ngaju), yang terbagi lagi menjadi beberapa sub-kelompok kecil. Salah satu sub-kelompok kecil ini mendiami daerah Pendahara di Sungai Katingan. Praktek mengelola kematian menekankan gagasan tentang hubungan kehidupan di alam maya dan alam baka yang dapat mempengaruhi kesejahteraaan manusia yang masih hidup. Fokus pengelolaan kematian ini adalah penanganan jenazah dan upacara kematian Tiwah. Kegiatan pengelolaan kematian merupakan suatu karya manusia sebagai realisasi pemenuhan aspek spiritual kepada yang lebih berkuasa atas hidup manusia dan aspek sosial kepada sesama manusia dan lingkungan di sekitarnya. Dalam Antropologi Seni, karya manusia ditetapkan sebagai suatu karya seni berhubungan erat dengan persepsi dan interpretasi si pengamat karya. Lebih jauh lagi, persepsi semacam ini juga tergantung pada latar belakang budaya atau pengetahuan tentang suatu karya seni. Dengan demikian, jika pengelolaan kematian merupakan bagian dari siklus hidup masyarakat Ngaju sehari-hari, bagaimana upacara Tiwah dapat dinilai sebagai suatu karya seni? Artikel ini akan membahas kosmologi dan praktek Tiwah untuk dapat mengerti bentuk karya, representasi dari karya, dan social konteks karya tersebut.
_______________
Published in: Wasita, et.al. 2007. Naditira Widya. Archaeological Bulletin. Banjarbaru: Centre for Archaoelogy, Banjarmasin. vol. 1 no. 1. ISSN: 1410-0932. In press

The Preference of choosing a site in Classic Indonesia: A Case Study in East and South Kalimantan

Abstract

The Province of East and South Kalimantan are two different regions, which each of them has its own geographical and geological characteristic. A number of archaeological remains that was discovered in both provinces indicate an interesting phenomenon in regard to their spatial feature. The site distribution reflects past human activities occurred in its ecological circle. Therefore, natural resources is considered to be one of the aspects determined in selecting prospective location to carry out one's activity. In the classical period of Indonesia, human established monuments, whether sacred or profane, according to the text of Vastusastra or Manasara. However, selection for prospective location still tend to depend on convenience and comfort to obtain natural resource, especially, water and also human resource for religious purposes.
_________
Published in: Sulistyanto et.al. (eds.). 2000. Naditira Widya. Archaeological Bulletin. Banjarbaru: Centre for Archaeology, Banjarmasin. No. 5: 21-25. ISSN 1410-0932.

Nation Integration a la Ngadatun and Marabia

Abstract

The Maanyan of Haringen in Central Kalimantan have been persistent on carrying out secondary treatment for their burial custom. This activity is believed to have been practiced since prehistoric. Presently, the majority of the Haringen community is Christian; however, the performance of the living tradition indicate a remarkable outlook of tolerance -a manifestation of their traditional value system, the Paju Sepuluh, which emphasizes on the completion of human life and its environmental conformity. This suggests a form of appreciation regarding the subsistence of new cultural values that motivate inter-cultural adjustments. The very existence of the secondary burial tradition is the concept of the Haringen community, which is used indirectly as means to prevent threats against present intense nation disintegration.
_________
Published in: Sulistyanto et.al. (eds.). Naditira Widya. Archaeological Bulletin. Banjarbaru: Centre for Archaeology, Banjarmasin. Special Edition No. 6, June 2001: 53-69. ISSN 1410-0932.

Public Oriented: Effective Publication Strategy at the Centre for Archaeology, Banjarmasin

Abstract

The dissemination of archaeological information is an activity of no less important compare to archaeological research, in view of the fact that freedom to obtain information is a right for every human to be able to expand one's personal and social environment. The gap existed between archaeological research policy and its implementation is seen indirectly on the orientation of archaeological information dissemination, which tends to emphasize on academic objective for the benefit of only intellectual circle.
Accordingly, based on the 2000-2004 policy of the Research Centre for Archaeology, Jakarta, and the adjustments on the paradigm development of archaeological research today, it is necessary to enhance publication effectiveness, whether quantitatively or qualitatively, toward public orientation. This effort is designed for the attainment of practical requirements in managing cultural resources based on public involvement to determine policies, morally or physically, for local cultural and tourism development. The implementation of this concept aims to provide a condition for archaeological outcome to be accessible for the public interested in archaeology.
_________
Published in: Sulistyanto et.al. (eds.). 2002. Naditira Widya. Archaeological Bulletin. Banjarbaru: Centre for Archaeology, Banjarmasin. No. 8, April 2002: 128-137. ISSN 1410-0932

Traces of Hindu-Buddhist Culture on the Mahakam River Basin: Does the Settlement of its People exist?

Abstract

The Mahakam River Basin with its tropical rainforest ecology offers a beneficial environment for humans to conduct productive activity, whether livelihood or settlement. The river branches that provide valuable infrastructures for the interaction between the coastal communities and the hinterlanders had in the past initiated the occurrence of cultural contact, whether economic or religious. The Hindu-Buddhist remains found at the upper stream of the Mahakam River show the assessment of the width of territorial range of this cultural influence. The potency of the Mahakam River Basin, the community at the basin area, and the Hindu-Buddhist remains, however, are weak variables to encourage the assumption in regrad to the settlement establishment of the Hindu-Buddhist adherents on the Mahakam River Basin. On the other hand, the religious architectural concept regarding Boechari's formula of 'sacred structure and its settlement', which could be relatively expected to be applied easily in Sumatera, Java, and Bali, is in fact problematical for the study of the Hindu-Buddhist settlement at the Mahakam River Basin. This circumstance has likely arisen due to factors such as: 1) characteristics of archaeological remains, whether sporadic or moveable; 2) inquiring methods employed, which were most performed unscientifically by the locals; and 3) lack of valid supporting data, whether inscription or toponym. Therefore, more intensified achaeological researches using excavation and absolute dating methods implemented upon the region that nota bene had witnessed the early contact between the local and the great Indian culture are unquestionably encouraged.
_________
Published in: Kusmartono et.al. (eds.). Naditira Widya. Archaeological Bulletin. Banjarbaru: Centre for Archaeology, Banjarmasin. Special Edition No. 9, October 2002: 40-59. ISSN 1410-0932