Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex as A Major Industrial Area for the Kedah Tua Kingdom Based on Core Drilling Data

Kompleks Arkeologi Sungai Batu adalah kawasan yang terdiri dari himpunan permukiman dan situs pertukaran yang terletak di Lembah Bujang, yang cukup maju sebagai pusat pemerintahan dari abad ke-2 hingga ke-14 Masehi. Temuan arkeologi di Sungai Batu menunjukkan wilayah tersebut merupakan pemukiman yang secara khusus menjadi pusat penghasil besi, baik terlibat dalam kegiatan penambangan maupun peleburan besi. Penelitian lapangan ini menerapkan metode pengeboran inti di kawasan Kompleks Arkeologi Sungai Batu yang bertujuan untuk memperoleh data primer terkait potensinya sebagai pusat kawasan industri Kerajaan Kedah Tua. Bukti arkeologis terkini mengungkapkan bahwa kawasan ini dahulu sebagai pusat bengkel peleburan besi untuk kerajaan Kedah Tua sejak 788 SM. Analisis pengeboran inti berdasarkan contoh tanah jelas menunjukkan bahwa daerah ini merupakan bagian dari teluk laut purba yang luas sebelum turunnya permukaan air laut. Daerah ini lalu berubah menjadi muara sungai yang memungkinkan berdirinya permukiman. Daerah Kompleks Arkeologi Sungai Batu juga kaya akan kandungan bahan baku seperti bijih besi untuk industri peleburan dan alluvium untuk pembuatan batu bata. Daerah ini kemudian berkembang menjadi kompleks industri yang maju sejak 788 SM. Sungai Batu archaeological complex is a group of various settlements and exchange sites located in the Bujang Valley, which developed as a polity from the 2nd to 14th century AD. The archaeological findings at Sungai Batu suggest the position of the area as a polity or settlement specializing in primary iron production, which involved the activities of iron mining and smelting. Field research involving core drilling methods applied in the area of ​​Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex with the main purpose of obtaining primary data related to its potential as a major industrial area of ​​Kedah Tua Kingdom. This is because current archaeological evidence reveals that this area has been used as a major and advanced iron smelting workshop for the Kedah Tua kingdom since 788 BC. Analysis of core drilling (soil samples) clearly shows that this area represented the part of a large ancient marine bay before the sea level decreased. It was changed to become a river estuary allowing settlements to be established. Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex also exposed many raw materials such as iron ore for the smelting industry and alluvium for making a brick. It has developed into a flourishing industrial complex since 788 BC

Tapak Paleolitik Bukit Bunuh, Lenggong, Perak : isu dan masalah dalam pentarikhan

Bukit Bunuh telah ditemui melalui projek khas pemetaan tapak-tapak arkeologi baru dan paleoalam di sekitar kawasan Lenggong pada tahun 2001. Bukit Bunuh merupakan tapak Paleolitik terbuka yang keluasannya mencapai 3 km2. Pentarikhan di Bukit Bunuh melibatkan dua kajian utama iaitu arkeologi dan geologi. Pentarikhan ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan kaedah kronometrik seperti OSL, FT, ESR, K-Ar, U-Pb dan 40Ar-39Ar. Pentarikhan OSL dilakukan di dalam kajian arkeologi di Bukit Bunuh yang mana telah memberikan usia 490,000- 500,000; 270,000-320,000; 40,000 dan 30,000 tahun dahulu. Teknik pentarikhan ini dilakukan pada lapisan kebudayaan in-situ di dalam petak ekskavasi yang telah berlangsung pada tahun 2001, 2003, 2008 dan 2010. Namun menurut kajian julat usia untuk teknik pentarikhan OSL adalah sekitar 450,000 tahun dahulu. Pentarikhan untuk kajian geologi pula telah dilakukan terhadap batuan impaktit di Bukit Bunuh untuk menentukan usia impak meteorit yang telah berlaku di kawasan tersebut. Pentarikhan melalui kaedah FT terhadap alat batu dalam batuan suevit memberikan tarikh sekitar 1.83 juta tahun dahulu. Namun begitu, beberapa kaedah lain yang digunakan seperti ESR, K-Ar, U-Pb dan 40Ar-39Ar telah memberikan usia yang berbeza dan jauh lebih tua iaitu sekitar ~305 hingga 1.34 juta tahun dahulu yang mana menunjukkan usia batuan dasar di kawasan kajian seperti usia batuan granit Trias. Namun jumpaan alat batu dalam suevit telah mencadangkan bahawa usia impak meteorit yang berlaku di Bukit Bunuh tidak berkemungkinan lebih tua daripada zaman Kuaterner. Maka makalah ini, akan mengupas isu dan masalah yang berlaku dalam kajian pentarikhan terutama bagi julat usia berkesan teknik pentarikhan yang digunakan di samping kekangan yang dihadapi oleh teknik pentarikhan tersebut. Pentarikhan yang berjaya dilakukan akan mengisi rompong usia dan memberikan sumbangan dalam kronologi prasejarah di Kompleks Paleolitik Bukit Bunuh

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF GUA PELANGI, JELEBU, NEGERI SEMBILAN, MALAYSIA: ITS POTENTIAL AS A HERITAGE TOURISM SITE

Archaeological studies conducted in Gua Pelangi, Negeri Sembilan have been able to find an early civilization aged between 14,000 to 9,000 thousand years ago which was used as a shelter from hot rain and wild animals, in addition to making stone tools and food preparation. The interpretation was based on the findings of 299 lithic artifacts, 52,929 faunal remains and evidence of burning such as ash, charcoal and burning sediments that are still in situ have been recorded. This site is also used as a workshop for the manufacture of stone tools with the presence of hammer stone, cores, anvil, flake, chopper and debitage. Analysis of the fauna remains found clearly shows that this community hunts and collects terrestrial, arboreal/semi-arboreal and aquatic/semi-aquatic vertebrate animals and mollusk shells. Based on the scientific evidence, ecotourism activities involving cave exploration, pioneering and jungle trekking, camping, limestone hill climbing, cooking demonstrations in the forest and visits to local community villages have been carried out. This shows that efforts to develop Gua Pelangi into a tourism product have begun and this is able to develop the economy of the local community in the area

ANCIENT KEDAH IRON SMELTING EXPERIMENT IN PREPARATION FOR OFFERING ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOURISM HERITAGE PACKAGES AT SUNGAI BATU ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX (SBAC), BUJANG VALLEY, KEDAH, MALAYSIA

In order to obtain primary data related to the iron smelting activities, the experimental process of furnaces, tuyere and air pumps making is carried out. The experiment has conducted since 2013 through the Knowledge Transfer Program (KTP) in Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex (SBAC). Through the experiment, the clay in this complex has been used as a raw material for furnaces and tuyere making while the bellows is made of wood, plywood and fabric. In order to complete the experiment regarding the raw material that use for iron smelting, iron ore was taken through survey activities in the area of Kampung Batu 5, UiTM Merbok and Bukit Tupah while charcoal was used from rubber wood in the rubber plantation near the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex. After the experiment was conducted, the results recorded were different from the findings of the iron ingot excavation at the iron smelting site which is likely to occur due to the difference in technique and ratio of materials used during smelting activities. Although the results obtained during the experiment are different, the smelting process can be used as the main reference for offering tourism full packages related to the demonstration of iron smelting in this complex to foreign tourists

Bukti tapak 23, Pengkalan Bujang sebagai kuil Hindu berdasarkan kajian arkeologi terkini

Kajian arkeologi yang dijalankan di tapak 23, Pengkalan Bujang oleh Wales (1940), Herqoualc’h (1992), Nik Hassan Shuhaimi dan Kamaruddin (1993) dan Zulkifli (Rahmat 2006) membolehkan tapak tersebut dicadangkan fungsinya sebagai candi Hindu dan masjid berdasarkan rupa bentuk seni binanya. Oleh yang demikian kajian terdahulu telah menimbulkan polemik berkaitan fungsi sebenar tapak berkenaan. Bagi menyelesaikan isu tersebut, maka kajian lapangan yang melibatkan aktiviti survei dan pemetaan semula tapak 23 dilakukan bagi meneliti rupa bentuk sebenar tapak 23 yang akhirnya membolehkan interpretasi tapak dikemukakan. Berdasarkan kajian mendedahkan tapak 23 masih mendedahkan seni bina Vimana, Mandapa, kekaki, koridor dan Candi Apit yang in-situ dan secara jelas mengukuhkan interpretasinya sebagai sebuah candi Hindu di kawasan Kompleks Percandian Pengkalan Bujang

Potensi kawasan Kompleks Arkeologi Sungai Batu dalam industri besi dunia berdasarkan analisis data survei bahan peleburan besi dan penggerudian dalam

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mendapatkan data primer berkaitan potensi kawasan Kompleks Arkeologi Sungai Batu sebagai kawasan peleburan besi Kedah Tua. Sehubungan itu kajian ini akan menggunakan kaedah survei dan penggerudian dalam bagi mengoptimumkan dapatan data bagi kajian ini. Ini kerana bukti arkeologi semasa jelas mendedahkan kawasan ini telah digunakan sebagai bengkel peleburan besi utama dan maju bagi kerajaan Kedah Tua sejak 788 Sebelum Masihi. Analisis ke atas sampel tanah melalui penggerudian dalam jelas menunjukkan sebelum kawasan ini mewakili persekitaran teluk yang luas sebelum aras laut menurun dan persekitarannya berubah kepada sungai yang membolehkan petempatan didirikan. Hasil survei sekitaran Kompleks Sungai Batu juga membuktikan kawasan ini mempunyai kelimpahan hasil bumi seperti bijih besi untuk tujuan peleburan besi, pokok bakau sebagai bahan bakar peleburan besi dan tanah aluvium bagi bahan asas pembuatan bata bagi pembinaan monumen yang kesemua ini menjadi pemangkin kepada perkembangan kawasan ini dalam penghasilan produk besi dunia

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis of iron ore at ancient Kedah iron smelting site, Sungai Batu archaeological complex, Bujang Valley, Kedah, Malaysia

Archaeological excavations carried out on 17 iron smelting workshops at the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex have found the raw materials of iron industry (hematite, magnetite and geotite) with iron slag, tuyere, remains of furnace, and iron ingots. In order to obtain primary data related to the location of the raw materials of iron smelting obtained, the survey and mapping activities were carried out using geological maps and Sungai Petani maps around UiTM Merbok, Bukit Inas, Merbok, Batu 5 Village, Paya Suri Village and Ayer Nasi Hill, Semeling. The results of the iron ore survey were then subjected to scientific analysis to compare the mineral composition with the findings of iron ore at the iron smelting site. The results of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis of iron ore for major elements reveal the elements silica oxide (SiO₂), iron oxide (FeO₊), manganese oxide (MnO), calcium oxide (CaO), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and titanium oxide (TiO₂) as well as arsenic (As), Chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), scandium (S), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn) for trace elements clearly show the raw material of iron smelting in the Archaeological Complex Sungai Batu is from the same source. Based on the analysis of the raw materials of iron smelting to enable the iron smelting industry in the Archaeological Complex to take place is taken from a distance of 1–11 km from this complex

Evolution of the “ancient Kedah”: A study on urban forms at Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex (SBAC), Bujang Valley, Kedah, Malaysia

Archaeological research at the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex (SBAC), which has been carried out until 2023, aims to complete the chronological data and urbanization process of the ancient Kedah. This study will especially prove that the ongoing urbanization process is aimed at developing the iron smelting industry and trade in ancient Kedah, especially in SBAC. This is because archaeological research at SBAC has proven that with the existence of the ancient Kedah iron smelting workshop at SBAC, river jetties, port management, rituals, and Buddhist monuments began to be erected, all of which can be determined by chronometric dating. The results of the chronometric dating have proven that the ancient Kedah Kingdom existed since the 6th century BC and was oriented towards the trade of iron resources, which allowed the use of the area to grow rapidly. The process of urbanization and land use clearly conforms to Lynch's principle, which emphasizes the principles of 1) paths, 2) edges, 3) districts, 4) nodes, and 5) landmarks in the development process of land use and urbanization in the complex