Page 74 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

in the Mediterranean, India and China for exotic
goods. The discovery of glass beads in Thailand,
Vietnam, Malaysia, and Philippines dating back to
the fourth century BC provides material evidence
for this. Similar glass beads dated 195 BC and 6
AD (Coedès, 1968) were also found in Gilimanuk,
Bali, along with the discovery of “Indian rouletted”
earthen ceramics dated 1 – 2 AD in Kobak, Kendal
and Cibadak, West Java (Glover and Henderson,
1995). The Peripulus manuscript dating back to
first century AD refers to connections with Europe.
It describes the journey sailing through the Indian
Maritime trade routes during Ocean (Ardika, 1996). Other information related to cloves from Maluku reaching the
the proto-historic era connected Mediterranean where the Romans traded in spices took place around 70 AD (Higham, 1989).
Indonesia to China, India, the
Middle East and Africa. In the South East Asia region, the most important regional trade was the arrival of
exotic goods of Dong Son culture into the Indonesian Archipelago. This trade included
items such as musical instruments, jewelry, tools, weapons, bronze drums, various kinds
of axes, fishhooks, arrowheads, blades, and swords. The population in the Indonesian
Archipelago traded local commodities for all of these items. They sold items such as
camphor, Sumatran incense, eaglewood and sandalwood from Nusa Tenggara, spices
from Maluku, precious metals including gold and silver, and handicrafts. The evidence for
trading of goods from the Dong Son culture can be found all over the archipelago, not only
on the bigger islands, but also in small islands which likely were the transit points along the
trading routes.
The discovery of bronze vessels in Jambi and Madura, kettle drums in Plawangan, Weleri,
Manikliu, in the islands of Sangeang, Selayar, Leti, Luang and Kei along with the Seruti
axes in Rote and Papua prove that regional trading not only involved the Austronesian
population in the West, but also the Austro-Melanesian population in the East. In Papua,
for example, some Dong Son bronze goods were discovered; there were different kinds of
drums in Aimaru and funnel axes in Sentani (Bellwood, 2000). Other reported discoveries
were bronze axes in Koor (Sorong) and Kwadeware (Simanjuntak, 2010). The discovery
of this bronze-ware and the findings of Dong Son artifacts in the small islands of east
Indonesia support their interaction with Austro-Melanesian population through trading.

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