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The race to preserve shipwrecks, artifacts
Lack of finance, technology and trained divers, the attempt to sell sunken artifacts — not to mention looters — appear to be hindering the potential to conserve Indonesia’s abundant underwater heritage, a topic under hot discussion of late
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ack of finance, technology and trained divers, the attempt to sell sunken artifacts — not to mention looters — appear to be hindering the potential to conserve Indonesia’s abundant underwater heritage, a topic under hot discussion of late.
Conserving history: A diver from the PBA team explores a shipwreck located in the waters off Menjangan Kecil Island on one of the archaeological expeditions conducted in 2010. — Underwater Heritage Program Directorate/Adhi Perwira
The Underwater Heritage Program Directorate (PBA) under the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Directorate General of History and Archaeology is keen to set up a system to overcome these challenges.
“Our objective is to preserve these culturally valuable remnants of our past,” Gunawan, chief director of the PBA said.
The directorate recently conducted five dives over 10 days to recover artifacts in the Karimunjawa region, Jepara, Central Java.
“We want the artifacts we have uncovered to stay and be looked after in Indonesia so that citizens and generations to come can learn more about the role Indonesia has played in the maritime industry from the 9th to the 19th centuries.” The PBA said in a press statement it would also help boost the tourism industry.
This initiative is not without challenges, however. Gunawan says the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Pannas BMKT’s (the national committee of excavation and utilization of precious artifacts from sunken ships) commercializing of artifacts, including the unsuccessful auction early May of treasure reportedly worth US$80 billion, is devaluing Indonesia’s history.
Pannas BMKT’s secretary general Sudirman Saad recently told The Jakarta Post that artifacts the state wanted to preserve were held in a government warehouse in Cileungsi, West Java, with the remainder stocked in a privately owned warehouse in Pamulang, South Jakarta.
Gunawan said he was concerned that precious artifacts would not be preserved and wanted to encourage people to value them — as well as shipwrecks — more so they could learn more about their past and enhance national pride.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) agreed that selling the underwater artifacts meant Indonesia would lose its valuable heritage. “Exploiting an archaeological site and dispersing its artifacts is an irreversible process. Yet the contents of the shipwreck found off the coast of the city of Cirebon have much to tell us about cultural and commercial exchanges in the region at that time,” UNESCO director general Irina Bokova said in a press statement.
While Gunawan said it would take time to build a solid system to extract and preserve the artifacts, and gain people’s interest, he believed this goal could still be reached.
“People may be worried that [we may not have the technology], especially in Indonesia, and this may be because there has never been a preservation process undertaken before,” Gunawan said. “But we have to start at some point and I’m sure we are capable.”
He also added he was confident Indonesia would receive help from abroad. “International assistance is not a problem, recently UNESCO said it was interested in conducting a training program in Indonesia.” He added, though, that training had been postponed due to a polemic regarding artifacts. He did not elaborate further.
So far, the PBA diving team has located ceramic fragments in waters off Genting Island and shipwrecks in Kemojan. It also located shipwrecks in waters off Menjangan Kecil Island, Central Java, and Cirebon, West Java. In Cirebon, it discovered ships were made with Nusancara technology. This involved ship construction without the use of nails.
It found that this technique was used during the Majapahit Kingdom, a kingdom based in Java and covering much of Southeast Asia circa 1293-1500.
With the race against the elements as a central factor in underwater artifact preservation, location identification is important. Presently the team is using tools such as the magnetometer and a GPS map sounder to locate them.
The correct removal of the artifacts from the sea is also pertinent as artifacts in water are especially fragile. Gunawan said he was confident his diving team was competent in ensuring this.
“It is not too complicated for us to retrieve artifacts from a depth of 40 meters below sea level,” he said.
“The problem is retrieving artifacts from a depth of 60 meters. Technology is needed at this depth as it is hard for divers to reach this far.”
While the PBA has a team of divers, the need to advance their training and increase their number is still high on the list of priorities. It noted there were many suspected shipwrecks to discover across the archipelago. Gunawan highlighted that government interdepartmental coordination was needed to provide finance for more training.
“If our young employees at the PBA work hard and are given lots of opportunities, it won’t take long to have qualified divers.”
Yudi Wahyudin, a diver with the PBA, said the greatest challenge in diving for the artifacts were the risks involved. “The first time I carried out underwater archaeology, I didn’t think there would be much difference to land archaeological techniques,” he said. “The duration you spend underwater is very short, however. Our lives were often at stake while we worked.
“These challenges only gave us the motivation to do better. But we are still relatively inexperienced.”
Like Gunawan, Yudi believes it is integral to conserve the maritime heritage of Indonesia. “From our cultural heritage, our people can learn more about our travel and technology history. We can learn much from the past. People are increasingly valuing history as important. Every Indonesian has the right to access their culture.”
In the meantime, Gunawan and his team are constructing on-site shelters to house artifacts and remnants of shipwrecks.
Gunawan said the plan was to have an on-site museum that would serve to educate locals about Indonesia’s maritime history such as trade routes and shipbuilding technology.
Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik previously told the Post the cost to build a maritime museum might be too great. “We have calculated the cost [which is] about Rp 400 billion [$44 million], but I don’t think we can ask that from the state budget right now,” he said.
When Gunawan was asked how long it would take to build a solid system, including highly trained divers, technology and the means to preserve ship remnants and artifacts, he said, “I cannot provide an answer yet. There is a shared will between the relevant agencies, but creating a solid system is not an easy task, mainly because much support is needed.”
There are reportedly around 3 million undiscovered shipwrecks in waters across the world.
The UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage presses to protect underwater heritage and make it available for scientific study and the public. Indonesia has not ratified the treaty.
