Ancient Finds From Kampong Jenderam Hilir

Transcription

Hak Cipta Terpelihara © 1977 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia
ANC IENT FINDS FROM KAJ\fPONG J ENIlERAM IIIU R
by
Lco n,l.! Sau Heng
J ;ah~un~1lnh
Unh'tnitiMallYli
Chance finds of archaeological
objects nor the great depth from
whi ch the )' were found struck a
notc in the minds of their early
finders. A few workcrs however had
bothered to collect some o r the
more intcrest ing objects. Much
credit therefore goes to th ese early
co ll ectors for their initiativc in
recovcri ng the artefac ts.
Through the effort s of Encik
Mohd. Yusuf bin Said. Encik Ramli
bin Riehm, and Enel k M ahel.
Moktar wc arc thus ab le to havc our
fiTS! glimpsc of the prehistoric past
in the vicini ty of the present Kam·
pong J endera m Hilir o f Sepan$!;
district.
The cultural inventory from
this carl)' collection includes a
cord marked earthernwarc pot
(whok, sec plate I ), a large quanti·
ty of potta), shercls. some woonen
paddles (p late 2). and nUmero us
stone artefacts such as stone adze
heads of sevcral quadrangul ar adzes
(featuring the beaked Iypes as well,
sec plate 3). of a sma ll shouldered
adze (fig. 1), o ne speci men of a
large oval shaped slate axe head,
one Slo ne imp lement of a type
similar to that often referred to as a
'Tembe lin g knife', I :Uld seve ral
pieces or polishing stones of granit e
material for the manuracture of
stone 10015 (pl ate 4) , and several
pil'ces of round granitc stone s
found often togethcr with flat ish
artefacts have always pl ayed an
important pan in the discovery o f
several prehistoric si tes in West
Malaysia. In a country where dc\·ela pment is taking place at a rapid
rate: activities ranging from the
dearing of land fOf cultivation,
co nstruction works, mining, etc
h ave helped un cover f Of us many of
the secrets of our pa.H. But o ften ,
sad ly enough, a great deal of these
relics went unrecognised and sub·
sequent ly many si tes arc believed to
have been permanently lost to us.
Nonetheless there arc also instances
when such finds did not go un·
noticed.
In the vicinity of Kampong
Jcndcram Hilir. G kilometers from
the nearcst 'pckan ' at Dcngkil and
some 40 kilometers from Kuala
Lumpur. the sighting of 'unusual
objects' w~re noted b)' some
wo rkers not lo ng after tin mining
acti\;ties commenced in the region
during the early seve nties. On
several occassions wo rkers from the
three open·cast hydraulic mining
concerns there came across during
their mining pro cesses numerOllS
bits of pottery sherds , odd loo king
stone objects, wooden paddles, and
other metal artefacts. These were
no t mere surface finds. Th ey came
from a depth ranging from at kast
5 meters to o ver 9 meters below tlte
present ground le\·el. Howe\'er,
neither did the 'strangeness' of th e
\.
M.W.F.
"Tht SlOne: ~ in t.~.
\'01. 26(2). 19~'. pp. '7·'8.
Tw~d" .
y~". JMHRAS.
38
PlJJu 2:
1I'00dj'n paddlu: uDj'rai 0/ Ilr.n,
1r.1l~
bun /ov nd in Ilr.t '"tIL
39
agricultural activities." Although
there is still insufficient evidences
to support the contention that the
implement is a harvesting knife of
some kind, it is something to bear
in mind in particular when one
takes into consideration the fact
that the site is situated on a flood
plain. Some pollen analysis study in
the region will perhaps be able to
throw further light on this aspect of
the economic activities of these
lowland dwellers in the prehistoric
past. However, it suffices to say for
the moment that typologically this
type of stone implement is rare and
are only known to have been found
in the region of the Sungai Ternbeling particularly at Nyong. The
occurence of this type of stone
implement in the \~cinity of the
middle reaches of the Sungai
Langat strongly suggests some kind
of contacts - probab ly through
river routes and mountain tracks
across the main range - with the
hinterland of Pahang.
stones of the same material (plate
5). The former are anvil stones for
pot-making while the latter are
working surfaces for pot-making.
Also featured in the inventory are
metal artefacts such as bronze
bowls (plate 6) and several pieces of
solid tin ingots (plate 7).
Based on these finds alone one
can see the great significance of the
area as a potentially major archaeological site in the Selangor state.
Located on a flood plain not very
far from the present confluence of
the Sungai Langat and the Sungai
Semenyih, the area was first
occupied in the late Neolithic 2
times by a people who were
actuaJly making their own stone
implements and polishing some of
them. Local manufacture of stone
tools can be inferred from the
presence of several polishing stones
for grinding and sharpening as well
as polishing the tools, pieces of
unfinished quadrangular adze heads
still showing the rough flaking, and
a large blank for the manufacture
of such adzes (see plate 3, bottom
specimen).
These early inhabitants also
made their own pottery. This is
evidena:d by the presence of
severa1 sets of anvil stones and
granite slabs. Apparent ly, their pots
were made by the paddle·anvil
method (anvil marks can be seen on
the inner surfaces of some of the
sherds). Very often the paddle was
wrapped with cords as the majority
of the sherds. including the
specimen of the above mentioned
unbroken pot3 bear cord-impressed
patterns on the body of the vessel.
The single specimen of a
Tembeling type knih: found in the
region may suggest some kind of
2.
3.
4.
The term 'laiC nC'Olilhic' here isuled ina
broad ,enK to delCf"ibe put e\llture/
OJlturel who..: rn.lCTW remailU an
reprelCTltcd rn.inly by non-metal utcfaeu;
wood, .tone, bone, and ..,mclimcs anllCTs
were the malerial anployed for the
nanufaclure of their tools, WUpolU and
othCT anefacu. Koowkdce of metals
mi&hl have been known but un,ge of melal
wu 1101 widespread.
This is one of the pujor rUldl of Eneik
Mohd. YUNf bin Said, The pot WlII
acquired for my resan:h purpoSCI by a
vi.lling Guman archaeologist, Dr,
Magdekne von Dewal~ when we firll
visited the ,ite logelha. A,requested by
her thit pot togelhCT wilh hCT other
acqui.itiolU which include two lin incoll
and a boal paddle will be prcKnlM 10 Ihe
~tuKUm Senl Asia, UnNeniti Mal.aya on
the complelion of my resc.arch. I bla
howcver abo loaned the pot 10 an AUIIrali.an geolasiJl who hold rcquClled it for his
geological .tudiCl (d. footnole 10).
Tweedk, 01'. 61.. p. 37 and p. 61.
40
o
I
I
I
FiL. 1: SII",..Id",nJ Adu from K.mp ..... latdnom II,S.
(dine' tRICi", from tM ACtu_lPuimert)
PI4.,J:
a-d,."",,",odulit/ld~of...mOVJri.:tJ
BOlio," ,IIOUlIIII bumlt fro ... which IVell adUS"'tT, mlldl.
41
riveribe site further up north at
Pengkalan Bujang in Kedah.' These
can be da ted from the 12 th 10 the
early 13th century.'
It is not possible at this stage of
my early analysis to date the metal
finds. The bronze howls recovered
from the site, however, are com·
parable in shape to two othe r
hemispherical bronze bowls found
in another archaeological site which
1 was actual ly working on before I
came to know of the Jenderam
Hilir finds. IO This site, situated in
the vicinity of Kampong Sungai
Lang, is only some 24 kilome ters
from Kampong Jenderam Hilir (see
fig. 2). It is likewise located dose to
the present course of the Sungai
Langa!. There are very strong
reasons here to suspect some rela·
tionship between the t\\l0 sites. II
The fact that these neolithic
folks did a great deal of traveUing
o r at least had contacts with their
conu:mporaries in the other areas
especially in the northern region of
the Peninsula is further corro·
borated by a shouldered adze
specime n found by Encik Ramli bin
Ridun. TIle adze is typologically
diagnostic; it is the fifth known
case of such distinctive adze type
found in the country. Four other
examples ha\'e been found in the
north - from the Tembeling region
in Pahang and from the Baling
district of Kedah. s Aho of interest
to note here is the lithic material
used in this Jenderam lIilir
specimen. The adze is made of
chert, a material which is different
from that used in the numerous
quadrangular adze heads found in
the area. The latter an: all made
from hornfels, a rock material
commonly used f~r fashioning tools
by the neolith ic people. Stone
artefacts of chert on the other hand
arc also known to occur in
archaeological sites in the north in Perlis at Bukit Tengku umbu, in
Kedah at the Baling district, and in
Pahang in the Ulu Telom district.'
Apart from the above mentioned finds the site at Kampong
Jenderam Hilir has also yielded
artefacts of a later period. These
include ceramic wares, a cdadon
bowl of Lung Chuan type and a
small stoneware jar still bearing
some traces of its glaze (plate 8) as
well as metal objects such as bronze
howls and tin ingou. '7
The ceramic finds are Chinese
export wares. These belong to the
historical period. Both ceramic
types have their counterparts (and
in far greater abundance) in another
~.
cf.ibid.. p.U.
6.
7.
~id .• pp.28.'1.
Ille wooden p~dICJrcco ..ered from the
arn may 1110 belong to the lata period.
1I0wcver unlillrccicvcresuluof the radio
carbon dltinc of th~ q>ccimeru it b not
pou:ilk to ucribc thern to a neoUdu.:: Of
8.
d. A. Lamb., RQQrch It Pmckalan
8I.tiant:. A ptdiminary report, n.U n ....
V1(1961),pp.21.'7.
Leo~ Sail lie,.: A Study of ttnmIc
polt·neolithlcpcriod.
9.
depoliu from Pencblan BII~ Kedah
M.A. thnu IUbmined to the Unn-cniti
Malaya. 197-'.
~I Informed o f the lite by Mr. Brian
B.l!ehelor who had liso notified the
MIIJCUOl Neg ...... Mr. &tc:hclor, • Pb.d
Itlldent o f the Grolo(y dept. of Univcniti
~b.Laya. ...... conduainc some leoJorkai
lIudic, in the tin mini,.. area thue when
he camc: aaou lOme ardlacoJorical
artefadl lhown to him by tbe mine
workn ..
10. I
II. MeLa! analYlu by ekcuon miaoprobe and
atomic ablOrplion .pccuomctric method.
arc pretently bein( carried out on thCle
bronn rmd. and the aTChatOloJi.cal
(bronn) find. from KamPOI\( Sunpi
u weU u thote from the Klal\( rqion.
La,.
42
Pl4u
j:
StU o/rovnd "rWU' rtonu mtltz.tiJlI d41bsfor POI-fflllA~
11stu au of trtl1liu 11141n-id
43
The tin ingots fTom Kampong
Jenderam Hilir are solid plain ingots
weighing between 2~ to 3 kilogranu. These come in the shape of a
truncated pyramid on a squaTe
platform. The height is between 7
to 8 cm . The base measures llcm
x II em. The square apex is 4.7cm x
4.7cm.
Tin ingots of various shapes,
lome comparable to the Jenderam
Hilir types have been known to
occur in many parts of the country.
These arc ohen refem=d to a~
'tin·hat money' 01' 'tampang",12
When tin ingots first came into usc
in this countTY either, as a form of
currency or as expoTt commodity,
is an open question. It is however
generally held that the rolid ingots
arc much older than the hoUow
ones. 1l The earliest record we
know concerning tin ingots is an
early 15th century account by Ma
Yuan which mentions solid tin
ingots being used as a form of
currency in the Malacca Sultanate. 14 The tradition of such
usage could well date further back
in time.
Apart from this question of
chronology nothing certain is
known of the provenan~s of many
of these tin-hat money found in th~
Peninsula since mOll1 of these are
loose finds. IS In these respects the
tin ingots found in the vicinity of
KampongJenderam Hilir, therefore ,
may be considered to bear immense
research \'alue. Here they have been
recovered from a region rich in
alluvial tin deposits that can be
easily worked. It is apparent that
these tin ingots reprelCnt the end·
products of some tin mining actio
vities in the past. At this point I
would like to draw attention to the
existence of a large collection of
extn:mely charred (on the outside
surfaces) pottery sherds that I have
collected from the area. These arc
sherds from thick and coarsely
tempered wares, It appears that
these wares had been subjected to
some sort of 'industrial' use. At the
present stage of my investigation
we cannot know when this on-thcspot smelting of tin into ingots was
pTactised. 16
However, something may be
said on the terminus ad quem for
the dating of these tin ingots. This
is dcrived from Telative dating based
on the ceramic evidences from the
area. So far no blue·and·whllc
porcelain finds have been known to
occur in the area; on the other hand
my studies bf the cdadon bowl and
12.. for. diJcusaion on tbe history and d",·~
Iopmcnt of ti~hat monel" K"C William
Shaw and MoM, Kaaim Haji Ali: nn '/l.. ,'
lINl_itoI4:IMtnIIY. KQ}a Lu.mlNr, 1970.
IS, The hollow type of 'lampalll' WH nill in
u..: in Paharc
bte H the mid 19th
century.
.1
14. Shaw and MoM. Kaalm H.p Ali, op. tit.,
p.2.
I ~ One .poccimcn of tin il1lOt hal betn
feponcd to ha~ bftn reeovo::red fTom
Petallnc- Hown" th"e WII JOmt CO ~
fudon of labt:iI .n.ched to the lpecimcn
and that of amtha tin maot. cr. W.
linehan, "Ancknt tin qotl in the: Pnak
Mutalm", IMBRAS, 24(S). 19'5. and
ILL. Col"bcll. ''On Ancient tin qou in
the Pcnk M~eum", IMBIUS. 26(1),
19!1'pp.22'·224.
16. From my perlonal communication with
Ihe tin mine worken who had found the
tin Inrou (0,,"" SO is H"pOt1edly fccovaed
from the &rCa) thelle came from vay dnp
kvl:b In the mine .. almo" at tbe bedrock
leveL HoweYa" one Qnnot pbco:: too much
cmphui. on this Una: thelle tin Iocou
Wtte found dW"u. minlnf proo:ue.; beu.
compUltkdy wry much bnvi.c:l than
mo.t of the cultural material ~eoV(:fnt
from the depo.it thelle ob;ceu miaht have
fallcnfromthcirutuallcveb.
Pl4t, 7;
Solidt;II~OtJ.,to,,",dfrom
110",
tll,mi1ln,
In, commolll)o ."0"," G.I ti'WHIt morN)' or' T4mpoII,',
45
Fit. '2:
Af.p show,,., Lontion of the Kampu", Jendnam Ifili, site.
46
was a lapSt: in time before: the area
was resettled in the historical times
may only be: de:tennined by further
e:xcavations in the: area.
Nonethcle:ss, e:ven at this early
stage of our investigation one can
suggest that the location of the
settlement in an area rich in alluvial
tin deposits and close to the connUence of two major rivers in the
region were no me:re accident for
the late neolithic fo lks as well as
the later groups. Mining for tin in a
region easily a.ccessibk by rivers
could have been thc main reasons
fo r their occupation in the area.
This is not the first instance in
Peninsular Malaysia where arteracu
described as 'neolithic' have bee:n
reported from mining areas." At
Ka.mpong Jenderam Hilir we: have:
now a chance to investigate the:
matter more closely by extensive:
systematic excavation.
the: stone:ware: jar have: founn the:m
10 be similar to some spe:cimens
found at Pe:ngkalan Bujang in
Ke:dah. 1 have: ascribe:d the:se: to a
period betwe:e:n the: 12th to the
e:arly 13th ce:ntury. I am much
tcmpted to say that the:se tin ingots
belong to a pcriod not late:r than
the 14th ce:ntury and that the: are:a
around the: pre:sent Kampong
Jenderam I·Hlir mi~ht once have
been a feeder point to the entrepot
al Pcngkalan Bujang.
The picture of the: past that 1
have sketched above is mere ly a
fragmentary one. No d oubt the
area has yielded a gRat many
artefacts all these however are: loose
finds. Without stmtigmphic evi·
dences from actual excavations and
scientific dating of so me of the
objects found, it is not possible
evcn in this preliminary study to
makc any definitive statement with
regard to the relationships of the
\·arious find s with one another. ~·Iy
initial typ ologi cal study of these
carly finds seem to impl y that we
are dealing with more than one
cultural assemblage and these come
from different lime periods.
Whether human occupation in the:
area had been continuous from the
late neolithic time: s right int o the
historical period. or whether there
17.
N~oljlh ic &I1dacu Ian bc~n found in the
Tui Gokl min~ in Pahang u weU u hom a
mine al BalU G~ah In Pcnlr.. Thue
eumpla have bUll dted by Tweedle.tlp.
(il .•
p.19.
Abblcviation, used:
nu
fedcrat io nMuscum.Journal.
Kuala Lumpur.
JMBRAS J ourrul o f Ihe Malayan Bnnch
RoYI] Alialic SocieIY·
4)

Ancient Finds From Kampong Jenderam Hilir

Transcription

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