THE TIMBUL SITE, BALI, AND THE TRANSFORMATIONS PROJECT: MATERIAL REMAINS AND CONSIDERATIONS OF CHRONOLOGY AND TYPOLOGY

Abstract

The project, Transformations in the Landscapes of South-Central Bali: An Archaeological Investigation of Early Balinese States, undertaken with Drs John Schoenfelder and I Wayan Ardika, was initiated to investigate, through a program of survey and excavation, changes and continuities in aspects of the political, religious and economic landscapes of south-central Bali during the mid-late first millennium AD and into the second millennium AD. This paper first presents a brief discussion of the theoretical background to the project and of the 2000 survey season, followed by a brief overview of the 2004 excavations at the Timbul site and a discussion of the dating of the several periods of occupation. Analysis of the smaller assemblage of non-earthenware artifacts, including the Chinese materials and their dating, as well as of the lithic artifacts, are next discussed. The paper then presents the morphological analyses of the earthenware pottery and also compares the resulting rim shape types and vessel shapes to those from other dated sites on Bali. The paper concludes with a discussion of the excavated Timbul deposits in the context of current archaeological knowledge of the relevant periods on Bali.