Archaeologists find ancient shrine at Indonesian site

JAKARTA - A team of archaeologists has found an ancient shrine at a site discovered at the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta.

Budhy Sancoyo, the leader of the excavation team told ANTARA News that it could not be determined that the shrine belonged to which religion and when it was built because no important leads had been found so far.

On the second excavation day, the team succeeded in unearthing the shrine’s main gate which was 50 cm in width, a 6×6 meters wide main yard and a 60 cm wide entrance.

According to Sancoyo, the finding was a little different from the one outside the main entrance gate that was believed to be the civilization center, which only had a 38-cm wide gate.

An artefact in the form of a double triangle corner decoration was found at the main temple located at the western end of the shrine, which was discovered some seven meters away from the main gate.

The team had yet to establish which of two religions the shrine builders embraced - Buddhism or Hinduism - as there were many similarties between the two, their difference being only in the statues they set up.

“A fragment of the shrine’s stone structure was also discovered some seven meters from the western side of today’s excavation,” Sancoyo said.

The team aimed to focus on getting the shrine’s design within 12 days to come by mobilizing 10 experts and 20 local staffers.

“After the digging target in square meters has been achieved, the team will dig deeper to determine the shrine’s depth,” Sancoyo said. (ANI)