Two prehistoric burial sites found in Papua

Antara News, Mon, April 11 2011

"The finds are very interesting. The two burial sites show that prehistoric people living in mountain areas had different raditions"

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - The Jayapura Archeology Service has found two prehistoric burial sites in Papua province`s Pegunungan Bintang district.

One of the burial sites was located at Kabiding Hamlet, Oksibil subdistrict and the other one at Wanbakok Hamlet, Serambakon subdistrict.

"The finds are very interesting. The the two burial sites show that prehistoric people living in mountain areas had different raditions," a researcher of the Jayapura Archeology Service, Rini Maryone, said here Monday.

According to Rini, the tribes in Pegunungan Bintang District had a prehisroric cave burial tradition, different from those residing in Pegunungan Tengah District.

For example, the Dani tribe who live in Wamena and Tolikara, have a tradition of cremating their dead instead of entombing them ad in caves, Rini said.

Some artifacts such as splinter stones, square stone axes, were found inside and outside the burial cave sites.

The artifacts indicated that prehistoric humans in the region had a hunting and gathering tradition, Rini said.

Besides the two burial sites, The Jayapura Archeology Agency also found a prehistoric cave related to the worship ritual conducted in Okmakok Hamlet, Oksibil District.

Therefore, Rini asked the local authority to develop the prehistoric sites as potential tourism spots as well as to generate new knowledge from the prehistoric sites.

"The sites definitely have great cultural values," Rini said, adding that the local people should also preserve the prehistoric sites.

Editor: Aditia Maruli