Sarcophagus

Blog post and photography by Peter Hemenway

In last ten years or more in Bali there have been new evidence of existence of advanced cultural settlements dating back at least 2,500-3,000 years. 

The sarcophagus was used as a burial system and in Bali the burial system probably came from the Metal Age and considering 500 B.C. was long before the Java Kingdom, it is now assumed the possibility of Bali ancestors came from the megalithic era which pre-dates the Iron Age.

At the Archaeological Museum in Pejeng (formerly named Museum Gedong Arca) this sarcophagus in the form of two turtles was found near Bangli, is displayed. The head of the lower turtle has human features.

In Indonesian sarcophagus are generally of three types in sizes- small which is 1 meter , medium size is 1.5 meters adn the larger one is 2 meters

Detail of a Sarcophagus from Bali that is similar to one found in Sumbawa, Indonesia shown below.

Some of the sarcophagus found are left in the original areas of discovery.

In the village of Keramas a new sarcophagus had been found, and this was the 12th one in the Gianar region. There had been found 80 of these sarcophaguses in Bali.