Early Javanese Research Articles

Early evolution of small body size in Homo floresiensis

Recent discoveries of Homo floresiensis and H. luzonensis raise questions regarding how extreme body size reduction occurred in some extinct Homo species in insular environments. Previous investigations at Mata Menge, Flores Island, Indonesia, suggested that the early Middle Pleistocene ancestors of H. floresiensis had even smaller jaws and teeth. Here, we report additional hominin fossils from the same deposits at Mata Menge. An adult humerus is estimated to be 9 − 16% shorter and thinner than the type specimen of H. floresiensis dated to ~60,000 years ago, and is smaller than any other Plio-Pleistocene adult hominin humeri hitherto reported. The newly recovered teeth are both exceptionally small; one of them bears closer morphological similarities to early Javanese H. erectus. The H. floresiensis lineage most likely evolved from early Asian H. erectus and was a long-lasting lineage on Flores with markedly diminutive body size since at least ~700,000 years ago.

Indonesia’s Territorial Naming Tradition at the Saka Year and Strenghtening the Tourism Industry: A Critical Anthropolinguistics Research

The name of regions in Indonesia have been the subject of research. However, because of the constrained scope, geographic location, and analytical depth, no significant findings have been made. The names of Indonesian areas need to be thoroughly and critically studied. This study employes a critical ethnography methodology and critical discourse analysis to examine the data. The findings demonstrate that the early Javanese name for the region in ancient Indonesia, Saka, accurately defines that civilization. A chronogram-based digital technique is used to create region names. The chronogram technique for naming regions result in parallel regional nams between provinces, regions, and islands within the same jurisdiction. By building a state, demarcating territory, and organizing a connection of authorities,the Saka dynasty created hegemony of authority. The archipelago model area names has the potential to support the traditional tourism industry in Indonesia.

A Comparative Talk on Women Era

In the original philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi the proverbial principle is to “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”. Probably a fourth monkey should have been shown with crossing his arms as to convey “do no evil” or “do nothing”. Looking it in other way would mean, refusing to acknowledge it or feigning ignorance. It seems that in the present scenario with reference to Women era, gives us a feeling to have a relook at the three wise monkeys in a manner as shown above. The principles of jurisprudence are not confined to the texts in Sanskrit. Manu attests that custom is the foremost basis of jurisprudence. Customary law delimits Brahamnic legal theory. And customs differ according to districts, towns, castes guilds and corporations. Manu asserts the precedence of provincial custom. The Dharma Shastras are the pre-eminent Hindu legal texts written in Sanskrit, excerpts of which were translated into the early Javanese and Khmer languages. Niti i.e. Justice, is based on Dharma, which is moral law in these works. The term dharma may be traced from the root word dhr which means sustains or supports. The expressesion seems to have a wide range of meaning. It signifies the prudence of highest virtue to human welfare. We know how to swim In water like fishes We know how to fly In air like birds But we do not know how to Live on earth like human beings. Alexander Selkirk

The Kubrawī and early Javanese Islam

ABSTRACT Beyond somewhat vague allusions to Sufi influence, a qualitative sense of early Javanese Islamic praxis remains sadly lacking among scholars. This article attempts to rectify that deficiency by re-assessing the importance of a Kubrawī silsila (spiritual genealogy) found within the 17th- to early 18th-century Javanese chronicle, Sejarah Banten Ranté-Ranté. First identified by Martin van Bruinessen in 1994, this silsila preserves detailed information about two separate Sunni-orientated Kubrawī lineages attributable to the latter’s Central Asian sub-branch, the Hamadānī. Set within the context of other early Javanese Muslim texts containing previously overlooked evidence of Kubrawī praxis, in addition to hagiographical traditions identifying one Jumadil Kubra (a probable cypher for Kubrawī founder, Najm al-Dīn al-Kubrā) as the island’s earliest Muslim practitioner and a resident of Gresik, we argue that this silsila indicates considerable Kubrawī influence over Java’s initial Islamisation. Further consideration of the silsila’s specific Hamadānī characteristics set against wider 13th- to 15th-century Islamic history suggests either a north Indian or, more probably, Sino-Muslim origin for that influence. We therefore conclude by interpreting the Sejarah Banten silsila as a possible window onto the substantive nature of Sino-Muslim involvement in early Javanese Islam, adding further nuance to our understanding of that island’s Islamisation.

THE JAVANESE QUEST OF ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY IN SULUK WUJIL: A SEMIOTIC READING

Javanese Islamic Literature was connected to Islamic mysticism and written in poem to express delicate and sophisticated doctrines. Poem is deemed to be able to go beyond literal meaning for it expresses notion through figurative languages. Suluk Wujil is a good example of such early Javanese Islamic literary work that features spiritual quest and teaching. Suluk Wujil tells about Wujil, a convert who wanted to reach the essence of the ultimate Truth. Wujil is symbolic figure carrying an important sufistic teaching as well as the revealing socio-religious discourse in the early development of Islam in Java. This article is aimed to reveal the content of Suluk Wujil using three steps of semiotic reading, i,e, narrative schema, primary sign discovery and syntagmatic as well as paradigmatic analysis. The paper shows, firstly, that narrative scheme of Suluk Wujils is proceeded by a complaint of Wujil who failed to get into The Ultimate Truth after ten years of spiritual learning in Bonang. Ratu Wahdat or Sunan Bonang taught him the way to get spiritual enlightenment along with endorsing spiritual enlightenment of Seh Malaya (Sunan Kalijaga). Secondly, the primary sign of the Wujil Suluk is the phrase "Arriving in Mecca", in the last part of the text. The phrase affirms the spiritual characteristic of Suluk Wujil, with concern to a spiritual journey to very truth of Islamic spirituality. Thirdly, the paradigmatic analysis shows that there are various signs parallel and oppositional in the same time. The combination of signs forms a synthesis which leads to a deeper understanding of the significance of the signs. The syntagmatic analysis leads to an understanding of oppositional, but complementary signs.

Mythical Feline Figures in Java’s Early Islamisation Period (Fifteenth to the Early Seventeenth Centuries): Sinitic and Vietnamese Imprints in Pasisir Art

This essay investigates foreign imprints in Java in the early Islamic period through a motif primarily found on the island’s north coast (ca. fifteenth–early seventeenth centuries): the mythical feline-like figure. This motif knew a brief success in the mausolea decor of significant Muslim rulers, some of whom are known as Java’s early proselytisers of Islam. I argue that these Javanese feline figures are reminiscent of a Sinitic and Vietnamese iconography illustrating the syncretic nature of early Javanese Muslim elite’s material culture. Furthermore, this essay demonstrates how the Javanese stylisation of these mythical feline figures seems to be manifest of this period’s double paradigm : while the Javanese slowly converted to Islam, Muslim foreigners adopted their culture.

Additional evidence for morpho-dimensional tooth crown variation in a New Indonesian H. erectus sample from the Sangiran Dome (Central Java).

This contribution reports fifteen human fossil dental remains found during the last two decades in the Sangiran Dome area, in Central Java, Indonesia. Among this sample, only one of the specimens had already been briefly described, with the other fourteen remaining unreported. Seven of the fifteen isolated teeth were found in a secured stratigraphic context in the late Lower-early Middle Pleistocene Kabuh Formation. The remaining elements were surface finds which, based on coincidental sources of information, were inferred as coming from the Kabuh Formation. Mainly constituted of permanent molars, but also including one upper incisor and one upper premolar, this dental sample brings additional evidence for a marked degree of size variation and time-related structural reduction in Javanese H. erectus. This is notably expressed by a significant decrease of the mesiodistal diameter, frequently associated to the reduction or even loss of the lower molar distal cusp (hypoconulid) and to a more square occlusal outline. In addition to the hypoconulid reduction or loss, this new sample also exhibits a low frequency of the occlusal Y-groove pattern, with a dominance of the X and, to a lesser extent, of the+patterns. This combination is rare in the Lower and early Middle Pleistocene paleoanthropological record, including in the early Javanese dental assemblage from the Sangiran Dome. On the other hand, similar dental features are found in Chinese H. erectus and in H. heidelbergensis. As a whole, this new record confirms the complex nature of the intermittent exchanges that occurred between continental and insular Southeast Asia through the Pleistocene.

Craniofacial morphology of Homo floresiensis: Description, taxonomic affinities, and evolutionary implication

This paper describes in detail the external morphology of LB1/1, the nearly complete and only known cranium of Homo floresiensis. Comparisons were made with a large sample of early groups of the genus Homo to assess primitive, derived, and unique craniofacial traits of LB1 and discuss its evolution. Principal cranial shape differences between H. floresiensis and Homo sapiens are also explored metrically. The LB1 specimen exhibits a marked reductive trend in its facial skeleton, which is comparable to the H. sapiens condition and is probably associated with reduced masticatory stresses. However, LB1 is craniometrically different from H. sapiens showing an extremely small overall cranial size, and the combination of a primitive low and anteriorly narrow vault shape, a relatively prognathic face, a rounded oval foramen that is greatly separated anteriorly from the carotid canal/jugular foramen, and a unique, tall orbital shape. Whereas the neurocranium of LB1 is as small as that of some Homo habilis specimens, it exhibits laterally expanded parietals, a weak suprameatal crest, a moderately flexed occipital, a marked facial reduction, and many other derived features that characterize post- habilis Homo. Other craniofacial characteristics of LB1 include, for example, a relatively narrow frontal squama with flattened right and left sides, a marked frontal keel, posteriorly divergent temporal lines, a posteriorly flexed anteromedial corner of the mandibular fossa, a bulbous lateral end of the supraorbital torus, and a forward protruding maxillary body with a distinct infraorbital sulcus. LB1 is most similar to early Javanese Homo erectus from Sangiran and Trinil in these and other aspects. We conclude that the craniofacial morphology of LB1 is consistent with the hypothesis that H. floresiensis evolved from early Javanese H. erectus with dramatic island dwarfism. However, further field discoveries of early hominin skeletal remains from Flores and detailed analyses of the finds are needed to understand the evolutionary history of this endemic hominin species.

Taxonomic affinities and evolutionary history of the early Pleistocene hominids of Java: Dentognathic evidence

Temporal changes, within-group variation, and phylogenetic positions of the Early Pleistocene Javanese hominids remain unclear. Recent debate focused on the age of the oldest Javanese hominids, but the argument so far includes little morphological basis for the fossils. To approach these questions, we analyzed a comprehensive dentognathic sample from Sangiran, which includes most of the existing hominid mandibles and teeth from the Early Pleistocene of Java. The sample was divided into chronologically younger and older groups. We examined morphological differences between these chronological groups, and investigated their affinities with other hominid groups from Africa and Eurasia. The results indicated that 1) there are remarkable morphological differences between the chronologically younger and older groups of Java, 2) the chronologically younger group is morphologically advanced, showing a similar degree of dentognathic reduction to that of Middle Pleistocene Chinese H. erectus, and 3) the chronologically older group exhibits some features that are equally primitive as or more primitive than early H. erectus of Africa. These findings suggest that the evolutionary history of early Javanese H. erectus was more dynamic than previously thought. Coupled with recent discoveries of the earliest form of H. erectus from Dmanisi, Georgia, the primitive aspects of the oldest Javanese hominid remains suggest that hominid groups prior to the grade of ca. 1.8-1.5 Ma African early H. erectus dispersed into eastern Eurasia during the earlier Early Pleistocene, although the age of the Javanese hominids themselves is yet to be resolved. Subsequent periods of the Early Pleistocene witnessed remarkable changes in the Javanese hominid record, which are ascribed either to significant in situ evolution or replacement of populations.

Early Javanese Inscriptions: A New Dating Method

Even the historical expert is - understandably - terrified by the complications involved in the calculation of dates. Early Javanese Inscriptions puts the study of Indonesian epigraphical dating on a completely new footing, both in speed and in reliability. It examines the early Javanese inscriptions, taking account for the first time of the detailed astronomical information so routinely presented in the texts. A computer analysis, (see http://www.anu.edu/asianstudies/cvs/ceadecv.html) facilitates confirmation or correction of dates and now makes possible a description of the intercalation (insertion of extra lunar months) employed. Early Javanese Inscriptions may serve as a model for any historian working on complex dating problems. A reliable and, after some practice, easily accessible guide to the calculation of (Javanese) dates.

First Known Tibia of an Early Javanese Hominid.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReportsFirst Known Tibia of an Early Javanese Hominid1Shuji Matsu’ura, Megumi Kondo, Fachroel Aziz, Sudijono, Shuichiro Narasaki, and Naotune WatanabeShuji Matsu’uraDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author , Megumi KondoDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author , Fachroel AzizDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author , SudijonoDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author , Shuichiro NarasakiDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author , and Naotune WatanabeDepartment of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99 Search for more articles by this author Department of Human Biological Studies, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 112‐8610, Japan (Matsu’ura and Kondo)/Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 40122, Indonesia (Aziz and Sudijono)/Department of Anthropology, Gunma Museum of Natural History, Gunma 370‐2345, Japan (Narasaki) / University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan (Watanabe). 15 iv 99PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 41, Number 2April 2000 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/300136 Views: 50Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Qian Wang, Phillip V. Tobias An old species and a new frontier: Some thoughts on the taxonomy of Homo erectus, Anthropological Review 64 (Jun 2001): 9–20.https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.64.01Shuji Matsu’ura Toward the resolution of controversial chronologies for the World Heritage Site of Sangiran : Dating the first appearance of Homo erectus in the island of Java, The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyu) 61, no.11 (Mar 2022): 1–25.https://doi.org/10.4116/jaqua.61.2108KAREN L. BAAB, YAHDI ZAIM Global and local perspectives on cranial shape variation in Indonesian Homo erectus, Anthropological Science 125, no.22 (Jan 2017): 67–83.https://doi.org/10.1537/ase.170413Erick Setiyabudi, Akio Takahashi, Yosuke Kaifu First Certain Fossil Record of Orlitia borneensis (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Pleistocene of Central Java, Indonesia, Current Herpetology 35, no.22 (Aug 2016): 75–82.https://doi.org/10.5358/hsj.35.75Liora Kolska Horwitz, Patricia Smith, Marina Faerman, Elisabetta Boaretto, Irina Segal The application of biometry and LA-ICP-MS to provenance isolated bones: a study of hominin remains from Oumm Qatafa Cave, Judean Desert, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 3, no.33 (Mar 2011): 245–262.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-011-0056-1Yousuke Kaifu, Yahdi Zaim, Hisao Baba, Iwan Kurniawan, Daisuke Kubo, Yan Rizal, Johan Arif, Fachroel Aziz New reconstruction and morphological description of a Homo erectus cranium: Skull IX (Tjg-1993.05) from Sangiran, Central Java, Journal of Human Evolution 61, no.33 (Sep 2011): 270–294.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.04.002Karen L. Baab Cranial Shape in Asian Homo erectus: Geographic, Anagenetic, and Size-Related Variation, (Jul 2010): 57–79.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9094-2_6Sheela Athreya Patterning of geographic variation in Middle Pleistocene Homo frontal bone morphology, Journal of Human Evolution 50, no.66 (Jun 2006): 627–643.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.11.005Samuel Márquez, Kenneth Mowbray, G J Sawyer, Teuku Jacob, Adam Silvers New fossil hominid calvaria from Indonesia-Sambungmacan 3, The Anatomical Record 262, no.44 (Feb 2001): 344–368.https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.1046Eric Delson, Katerina Harvati, David Reddy, Leslie F. Marcus, Kenneth Mowbray, G. J. Sawyer, Teuku Jacob, Samuel Márquez The Sambungmacan 3 Homo erectus calvaria: A comparative morphometric and morphological analysis, The Anatomical Record 262, no.44 (Feb 2001): 380–397.https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.1048

First Known Tibia of an Early Javanese Hominid

First Known Tibia of an Early Javanese Hominid

A sixteenth century Portuguese report concerning an early Javanese world map

In the sixteenth century, there were numerous voyages of discovery in the oceans of the world, expanding European understanding and influence. These explorations, and in particular the knowledge they created, have tended to overshadow other ventures into the unknown. Not just the Europeans, but other cultures as well, navigated the seas and accumulated geographical information, putting together their own ideas about the distribution of the lands and seas around the globe. Arab and Asian seafarers plied the oceans in trade and exploration, and created maps and geographical texts. These maps and texts, however, are not as numerous as a scholar might wish. The Asian maps, particularly early ones, are few in number, and these are virtually all Chinese and Korean creations, world maps based on traditional religious concepts of a circular landmass. There are few maps based on actual navigation. But an early sixteenth-century Portuguese document gives a brief description of a Javanese map, which apparently showed much of the world. It also depicted the routes of the navigations of the Chinese and other Pacific peoples. The map itself has been lost, but we read of it in a letter from the Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque to his king, Dom Manuel, dated 1 April 1512.

An Early Javanese Code of Muslim Ethics

An Early Javanese Code of Muslim Ethics

An Early Javanese Bronze, the Gupta International Style and Clay Technique

An Early Javanese Bronze, the Gupta International Style and Clay Technique