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p to 15 new prehistoric sites have been discovered recently in Purbalingga regency, Central Java, an administration official has said.

The head of Purbalingga administration's Media Information Division, Prayitno, said the sites were spread across the upper stream sections of the Klawing and Tungtung Gunung Rivers and the up and downstream areas of the Laban and Kuning Rivers.

"The regency administration is currently asking experts of related fields to study the sites more thoroughly," Prayitno told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said from the 15 sites, hundreds of prehistoric stones and artifacts had been found and are currently being kept in a workshop in Pasir Luhur, West Java.

Among the findings, said Prayitno, are the remains of bracelets and axes believed to be from the Neolithic age.

The discoveries were made possible thanks to cooperation between archeologists at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Purwokerto-based Jendral Sudirman University.

"They were conducting research on the flow of important rivers passing through the regency last June when they found the sites," he said.

The archelogists who made the discoveries, Prayitno said, were Sudjatmiko and Budi Brahmantyo. Both are guest lecturers at the ITB's School of Geology.

Prayitno said the ITB research team had predicted that the sites along the upper stream of Klawing Rivers were remains from the Neolithic Age (1,000 - 6,000 years), while those in the downstream were believed to be from the Palaeolithic Age (6,000-60,000 years).

"The results of the research are really spectacular, though so far the administration and the public have not had a chance to see them," Prayitno said.

Apart from the archeological items, a number of valuable geological stones have also been found along the rivers. Among them included are the Heliotrope, popularly known as the Pierre du sang du Christ (Christ blood stone).

In the rivers, Prayitno said, the archeological and prehistoric artifacts were mixed with raw materials of rather valuable stones. The Community of Indonesian Valuable Stones, according to him, predicted that tens of tons of valuable stones including green jaspers had been found in the rivers.

Both the archeologists (Sudjatmiko and Budi Brahmantyo) said the regency was rich in valuable stones.