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

2011年和2012年在西苏门答腊岛高地的Tanah Datar进行的考古研究对米南卡堡发源地的早期聚居史有了新的见解。武吉贡巴克和武吉金西尔双子山的发掘为印度教-佛教国王阿迪亚瓦曼(1343-1375)的高地帝国提供了具体的考古发现和基本发现，到目前为止，只有铭文才能证明这一点。这项研究证明了土著统治制度中心的动态聚落发展，该制度与低地和海上丝绸之路沿线的贸易保持着明显的联系，导致了高地地区的经济开放和政治重新定位。在这一转变过程结束时，米南卡堡社会已从一个国家之前的政体发展成为一个国际公认的国家。与扩建项目相关的研究问题是Adityavarman时期与这一时间跨度之前的考古发现之间的年代差异。在研究区域的一个地点的测深中发现了比14世纪更早的聚落证据。相比之下，邻近的锡纳玛和马哈特地区令人印象深刻的巨石墓地清楚地证明了早期人口稠密的定居点核心。事先计划在马哈特墓地进行的扩大研究及其定居点的确定，目的是澄清该区域定居点结构的年代顺序和社会经济背景。这些信息将提供西苏门答腊岛高地早期定居社会的数据，为社会过程的比较研究提供基础，这些社会过程也在Tanah Datar中可见。这项研究的中心目的是强调文化传统的连续性，例如在前伊斯兰时代和伊斯兰墓地使用巨石。物质文化的其他方面，如陶器传统，将涉及区域和区域间的联系。因此，Tanah Datar研究的扩展项目将提供第一个比较研究，在更广泛的西苏门答腊岛高地以及更广泛的历史时间框架内重建定居点进程和文化转移。

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.