Traces of past civilizations along the river banks

A river is the mother of a civilization. In the case of Citarum river, an expert says that it is the river that molds Bandung, the capital of West Java and the Sundanese civilization.

Located 768 meters above sea level and surrounded by up to 2,400 meter-high Late Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic terrain, the 400-square-kilometer Bandung lies in the middle of some 2,400 square kilometers of the Bandung basin.

Geological data shows that the Bandung basin is located on an ancient volcano, known as Mount Sunda, which is 3,000 to 4,000 meters high and was formed during the Pleistocene age.

T. Bachtiar, geography expert and management lecturer at Islam Nusantara University, said that in the past, a volcanic eruption of Mount Sunda blocked the flow of Citarum river and turned the basin into an ancient lake known as the Great Lake of Bandung.

He believes that during the period, the lake was brimming with various animals. He said that fossils of mollusks that were found in Cukang Rahong prove that Bandung was previously submerged underwater.

Besides the mollusk fossils, fossils of ancient animals, such as an ancient elephant (Elephant maximus), rhino (Rhinocerus sondaicus), tapir (Tapirus indicus), and a set of hippopotamus teeth have been found in Rancamalang, Cipeundeuy, and in other areas in the Bandung basin.

“The lake drained away around 16,000 years ago when there was another eruption that destroyed the volcanic material blocking Citarum river,” Bachtiar said.

He said that after the eruption of Mount Sunda, the volcano formed a new caldera that erupted again and formed Mount Tangkuban Perahu.
Water table: Residents of Cieunteung, Bandung, West Java, have to live with the seasonal floods that hit their homes every rainy season. Courtesy of citarum.org

The Citarum riverbank is filled with archeological sites, such as the Batujaya temple, which lies around one kilometer away from the river, and many stone inscriptions, like the Ciaruteun stone inscription.

Bachtiar said that the Batujaya site was probably the world’s first construction using concrete and brick as its materials.

He said that the temple was made from limestone that was ground and mixed with other materials, such as small rocks.

He believes that the source of the limestone was the karst mountain, where people transported the material via the Citarum river.

“In Central Java, temples were made from rocks. But in West Java, the rocks are too hard as they are volcanic rock and contain basalt and andesite, so people used other materials to build the temple,” he said.

In 1945, during the war for independence, a huge flood hit Ban-dung and its surrounding areas, due to the fact that people escaping the Dutch troops went to the forest and cut down trees to build makeshift houses.

Citarum river continued to hold a vital role after independence, with three dams built to produce electricity for Java and Bali islands, as well as providing raw water for Jakartans.

“Citarum river has been helping people sustain their lives along its banks, but people pay no attention to taking care of it. It’s time to regenerate Citarum river,” Bachtiar said.