Tanah Datar: Early State Formation at the Background of Highland-Lowland Relations on Sumatra

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dominik Bonatz
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 188500991

The archaeological research pursued in 2011 and 2012 in Tanah Datar in the highland of West Sumatra has gained new insights into the early settlement history in the land of origin of the Minangkabau. Excavations at the twin hills of Bukit Gombak and Bukit Kincir compliments concrete archaeological finds and basic findings to the highland empire of the Hindu-Buddhist king Adityavarman (1343-1375), which was so far only documented by inscriptions. The study proof a dynamic settlement development in the centre of an indigenous system of reign which maintained evidenced contacts to the lowland and trade along the maritime Silk Road what resulted in an economic opening and political reorientation in the highland region. At the end of this transformation process the Minangkabau society has developed from a pre-state polity to an internationally recognized state. The research question relevant for the extension project is the chronological discrepancy between the period of Adityavarman and the archaeological finds pre-dating this time-span. Settlement evidences older than the 14th century were uncovered in soundings at one site in the research area. In contrast, the impressive megalithic grave yards in the neighboring regions of Sinamar and Mahat clearly attest to early densely populated settlement cores. The extended research, planned ahead, at the burial grounds of Mahat and the identification of their settlements aims to clarify the chronological sequence and the socio-economic background of the settlement structures in that region. Such information would provide data on an early sedentary society in the highland of West Sumatra, what provides the basis for comparative studies of social processes which are also visible in Tanah Datar. Central to the research aim is to highlight the continuities of cultural traditions e.g. the use of megaliths at pre-Islamic and Islamic burial grounds. Other aspects of the material culture such as earthenware traditions will address regional and interregional connections. As result, the extension project of the Tanah Datar research would provide the first comparative study to reconstruct settlement processes and the cultural transfer in the broader context of the highland of West Sumatra as well as in a wider historical time frame.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants