Jakarta, IO – The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in its research revealed that Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) has been inhabited by humans since at least 2,800 years ago, and the Melolo Site is the oldest relic.
The findings are based on research into the wealth of Austronesian prehistoric relics and sustainable culture in Sumba conducted by Retno Handini from BRIN Center for Environmental, Maritime, and Sustainable Cultural Archaeology Research, as per CNN Indonesia.
Retno focused on three of the four sites on Sumba Island. In addition to Melolo which is 2,800 years old, she also researched the Lambanapu and Mborombaku sites.
“The Lambanapu site was inhabited around 2,600 years ago. Meanwhile, the Mborombaku site is relatively younger, around 1300,” said Retno.
The excavation at Melolo resulted in the finding of 26 individual skeletons estimated to be hundreds of thousands of years old and ancient objects in the form of carved jugs.
Meanwhile, the excavation in Lambanapu which was carried out from 2015 to 2016, resulted in the discovery of ancestral graves of the Sumba tribe, in the form of 52 ancestral graves and 58 graves without burial containers.
“We also found relics such as rings, pearls, and objects shaped like clay jugs with decorations or carvings,” explained Retno.
At Mborombaku, Retno and her team found the location where the Sumba ancestors first landed, namely near the Kadahang River, Haharu district, East Sumba regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). One of the ancient objects found was a 13th-century Yuan Dynasty celadon ceramic believed to be from Fujian.
Read: Body Found on Anyer Beach is a Greek
Some of these ancient cultures still exist in Sumba today. Retno revealed that among them are stone graves (reti), sirih pinang, katoda, traditional houses, tengi watu ritual (pulling stones), hamayang ritual, and death rituals.
“The cultural traditions that still survive and continue in Sumba are strengthened by their original beliefs (Marapu), which highly respect their ancestors and maintain the teachings of their ancestors in their daily lives to this day,” explained Retno. (un)