ACCU Nara International Correspondent
The ACCU correspondents periodically send reports on cultural heritage protection activities in which they recently
involved. This is a collection of the fifteen reports and two special reports submitted by fifteen internationalcorrespondents in the Asia-Paciﬁc region.

The Sixth Regular Report
Contents
Bangladesh

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India

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Indonesia

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Mohammad Natsir Ridwan Muslim
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Malaysia

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Mongolia

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Munkhjargal Nargui
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Nepal

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Suresh Suras Shrestha
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Matthew Schmidt
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Naomi Faik Simet
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Sri Lanka

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Nguyen Khanh Trung Kien
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Special ReportUzbekistan

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Bangladesh
Bangladesh

ACCU

RE PORT

Ancient City SitèPundrangar'of Bangal and its Cultural Evidence
Mst. Naheed Sultana, Custodian
Mahasthan Archaeological Museum, Ministry of Cultural Affairs

Ascertaining the time of emergence of ‘Bangal’ or ‘Bangaal’
nationality has been difﬁcult as it is imagined. Similarly,
determining the political or geographical boundary of thethen ‘Bangala’ is very difﬁcult and based on imagination
because it was constantly changing from time to time
under different regimes. There is no historical record
remained to identify ancient Bangala. Glimpses into theliterary stories, legends and fables regarding on the eventsin those days are the only source of our knowledge about
ancient Bengal.
In ancient Hindu regimes, we ﬁnd no particular territorialname of Bangal as a whole. Various fragments of
information were known in different times. In northern
Bengal it was known as Pundra, Barendra and in western
Bangal, it was Rardh, Samatat, Horical and Bongaal.
Besides, some part of in northern and western Bengal, it
were called Gauda for some time. After the conquest of
the Muslims in this area, the whole of the vast territory
was called Bangala which was subsequently called Bengal
by the Europeans. The word Bengal is undoubtedlya derivative of Bangala. The famous Chinese pilgrim
Huen-Tsang’s report that there were four independent
kingdoms in the then Bengal: Pundrabardhan (North
Bengal), Samata (East Bengal), Tamraliptty (South orSouth-west Bengal) and Kornashubarna (West Bengal).
Among these, Pundra was an ancient racial name.
The Pundra people were believed to have lived in thenorthern part of Bengal. That is why the region was
popularly known as land of Pundra or Pundrabardhan.

1

The ancient site of Pundranagor is now lying
underneath the Mahasthan Garh. It was known from thearchaeological research that this city had prospered as avery rich and resourceful habitation from fourth century
B.C. to ﬁfteenth century A.D.
Gauda, Nibiti, Sukhsma (Radha), Jharikhand (Samtal
Pargana), and Burdwan belonged to the vast
Pundra kingdom. Pundrabardhan Vukti (The biggest
administrative unit) once comprised of the entire territoryof Bengal in the eastern side of the Ganges. Presidency,
Rajshasi, Dhaka and Chittagong- these four former
divisions of Bengal belonged to the Pundrabardhan
Vukti at certain times and the capital of this vast Pundra
Kingdom was at Pundrabardhan. In ancient times, it wasa very prosperous city. Mahasthan Garh of today which
is only 7 miles away towards the north of Bogra town is
suppose to be the ancient city of Pundrabordhan by thescholars and specialist. It is assumed that just after the
return of King Alexander the Great to Greece, Chandra
Gupta Mourya established a kingdom covering a vast partof India. It is also apparent from the Greek writings thatthe northern part of Bengal and perhaps the whole ofthe delta was watered by mighty rivers belonged to theMaurya Empire. An inscribed stone found at Mahasthan
Garh (seven miles away towards the north from Bogra
town) undoubtedly proved that the Mourya Empire ruledin North Bengal. That inscription in Brahmi letters also
proved that in north Bengal the centre of the Maurya
administration was Pundangal ie Pundranagor. We
found a mention of the provincial Mourya Governor,

Seal (3rd century B.C.)(Replica)

Sunga plaque (2nd century B.C.)

Inscription (3rd century B.C.)

Punch mark coin (2nd century B.C.)

The Sunga Empire controlled the eastern part of India.
It was established after the fall of the Mauryan empire.
The Sunga dynasty was established by Pushamitra Sungain 185 B.C. and continued until A.D. 50. Pundranagar
most probably came under the Sunga reign, because
many Sunga plaques were found in the archaeologicalexcavations of the fortiﬁed city site Pundranagar.
During the forth century A.D., the Gupta king establisheda vast empire in India. The ﬁrst king of this dynasty, Sree
Gupta, had once been the ruler of a small kingdom at the
beginning of the fourth century A.D. Subsequently, otheremperors of this dynasty became more powerful andruled over the empire for more than two hundred years
till the middle of the sixth century A.D. Pundranagar as awhole was a part of the vast Gupta Empire.

Several royal edicts inscribed on copper plates werediscovered in the north Bengal, and it is now evident that
this region of Bengal was once under the jurisdiction of
the Pundra Bardhan Vukti and was governed by a ruler
called ‘Mahamatra’ appointed by the Mauryan emperor.
Eventually in course of time, the Gupta emperors became
weak and emaciated. Meanwhile, a mighty ruler named
Sasanka sprang up and took possession of the vast
kingdom of Gauda (comprising Bango and Gauda).
Raja Sasanka was given a distinguished position in thehistory of Bengal because he dreamed to establish an
independent Bengal empire. Though partly, he became
successful in realizing his dream.
After death of ‘Sasanka’(A.D.606 - A.D.636), confusion
and lawlessness reigned over Bengal for a long time
until a man named ‘Gopala’ (A.D.750) became king of
the country through an upsurge of the cross sectionof people. Thus the Pala dynasty came to power andPundranagor came under the Pala dynasty. Dharmapala
and Devpala, the two powerful rulers of Pala dynasty,
ruled Bengal for a long time and some other Pala rulers
reigned for a short time.

Bangladesh‘Mahamatra’, in that inscription which obviously provedthat Mahasthan Garh of today was the historic city ofancient Pundrabordhan. The inscription said that at
a certain time famine occurred in that area following
natural disasters when the centre of the state issued twoorders to the Mahamatra (Provincial Governor). The ﬁrst
order of the state would not be made out. The second
order of the state directed to the regional governor tolaunch a relief operation for the famine affected people
together with Gondok and Kakonik (punch marked coinsthat were in vogue). This sort of punch marked coins
have been discovered at various places in the country.

Thereafter the Pala dynasty declined and the Sendynasty began to rule with ascending the throne of Vijay
Sen. Since 11th century A.D. Vijay Sen, Ballal Sen andLakshman Sen reigned in Bengal till the Muslim conquest
by Iktiar Uddin Muhammad Bakhtiar Khilji. Thus Bengal
came under Muslim control.

Terracotta head (5th-6th century)

Surya image (5th-6th century)

Terracotta bust (5th- 6th century)

Standing Buddha (5th century A.D.)

Earth touching Buddha(9th century A.D.)

Vishnu image (11th-12th century)2

Bhutan
BhutanACCU

RE PORT

Conservation of Semtokha Dzong (Fortress)
Karma Wangchuk, Conservation Engineer
Department of Culture, Ministry of Home & Cultural Affairs

The Kingdom of Bhutan, the only Buddhist country liesin the eastern Himalayas between India and China, twoof the largest and most populous countries in the world.
Bhutan, as everyone is aware, is a Buddhist country. The
country has inherited from its past a rich legacy of naturaland cultural heritage, which is alive and vibrant to thisday. Its culture, customs, belief system and traditional
ethos are deeply imbued with the profound middlepath philosophy of Buddhism. Bhutan has a very richarchitectural heritage with over two thousand lhakhangs(temples) and monasteries and over ten thousand
chortens (stupa) scattered in every corner of the kingdom.
The majority of the monuments dates back to the 17thand 18th century but many have their roots as far backas the 7th and 8th century. Besides the main monuments,
many of the beautiful traditional farmhouses, some datingback over hundred years, are also still intact and utilized
in almost all the villages in Bhutan.

Conservation of Semtokha dzong (2005 – 2008)
The main objective of the project was to conserveand rehabilitate Semtokha Dzong (fortress) from thedilapidated condition and restore to its original formand design in order to establish it as one of the mostsignificant national heritage sites in the country. It
included the establishment of the Dzong (fortress) as thecentre of Monastic Arts in Bhutan and to promote andpreserve the living monastic culture of the country.

The restoration, preservation and rehabilitation ofhistorical and cultural monuments and sites and theencouragement of the development of traditionalarchitecture in Bhutan is an important national policy andﬁnds great emphasis in many Government documents.

This conservation project was funded by the Royal
Government of Bhutan and Government of India witha total cost of US$ 3.37million. The major conservation
work undertaken from 2005 and completed in 2008 is ﬁrst
of its kind in Bhutan where original architecture of old
timber and stone wall structures with mud mortar were
preserved.

Semtokha Dzong
Built in 1629, the Semtokha is the most ancient dzong(fortress) in Bhutan and its historical signiﬁcance is still
increased by the fact that it has conserved its original
design up to today, while most of the larger dzongs(fortress) have been altered by repeated additions.
The whole complex forms a rectangular of 70 m by 60
m located upon an outcrop of the mountain, with steep
slopes going down on three sides. The four entrances
on four sides of the structure gives access to the interior
courtyard and is mainly built for defense purpose withall facilities such as store for storing grains, under groundpassage to water sources and interconnection of all rooms
with a secret door for movement of troops.
As in other dzongs, (fortress) the main structure is acentral towering building, the utse, (tower) housing theshrines. Above basement, whose floor is only slightly
below the pavement of the courtyard, its main floor
is reached by steps facing the entrance of the dzong(fortress). A vestibule and a large square hall provide
access to the main shrine, axially located and very high,since its ceiling is level with the ﬂoor of the third storey
and to the two lateral shrines. All theses rooms havemural painting on their walls and decorated with finewoodworks.

3

The project included activities such as conservation of
the existing Dzong (fortress) structure, development andrehabilitation of the spaces inside the Dzong (fortress)
such as basement cells which were not used for many
years in order to suit the new uses of the Dzong(fortress) and as a signiﬁcant national heritage site besideconserving the skills of craftsmen and promoting and safe
guarding the national heritage.

It is during this conservation period that we havediscovered four entrances, located at four sides of thestructure mainly build for defense and under groundpassage for fetching water during war. And also it isduring conservation of the dzong (fortress) that we could
document the over all structure and how it was designed.
Usually such structures built in those days without any
nail and iron materials, built purely with stone, timberand mud don’t have a single drawing or any short of
documentation but surprisingly it is very interesting tosee how symmetrically the rooms were placed, drainage
system, rain water ﬂushing toilets etc. were incorporated
in this mega structures.
Problems
As conservation of culture heritage is relatively new andmodern concept to Bhutan, preservation and continuationof the very art and architecture practiced over the
centuries and conservation of the historic monumentsthat are ediﬁce of our thriving culture present an uphilltask everywhere in the country. As I understand, it was
the experience for most of the architects, engineers andmanagers who implemented such conservation projects
for having to deal with negative reactions and substantial
interference starting from top decision makers to thegeneral public and end users of the heritage site. ApartAnother common challenge that we face in heritage sites
or conservation projects in Bhutan is from the fact that
all our monuments or heritage sites besides ruins areliving monuments. Monks and caretakers who live inthese heritage buildings in the same way as they used
to hundreds of years back, undeniably pose lot of threat
to these structures. With time increasing populationof monks and visitors cause uncontrollable process ofwear and tear. Besides, almost all the Dzongs, (fortress)
monasteries, temples and other heritage buildings which
are made of stone, mud and wood have very poor
water supply and drainage system. Today, managementof water, sewage, waste and fire is a major issue andpertinent challenge in all our heritage buildings.

Bhutanfrom this, Buddhism, which forms the principal veinsof Bhutanese culture, has precepts such that come into
contradiction with some of the main ethics of modern
conservation.

In Semtokha Dzong, (fortress) we have tried toincorporate a simple and sustainable system of watersupply, drainage or sewage and disaster management,
mainly fire, which have set good example for futureconservation projects.

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4Cambodia
Cambodia

ACCU

RE PORT

Anlong Thom: Cultural Village Development Project
Srun Teck, Archaeologist, Archaeological Preventive Unit, Department of Conservation of
Monuments in the Angkor Park and Preventive Archaeology, APSARA Authority

The research project was carried out by Living Angkor
Road Project (LARP) team, (IM Sokrithy, Ea Darith, Heng
Than, Khieu Chan, Srun Tech, Kim Samnang and Lanh
Udom Rainsey) and supported by Cambodian National
Commission for UNESCO, supervised by Mrs Tan Theany,
Mr. Khoun Khun Neay and Dr. Hang Peou, APSARA
Authority. The action plan was made for five months
work.
1. Introduction
Anlong Thom is one of seven villages located on theeastern part of the Phnom Kulen (Kulen Mountain)
and on northeast of Angkor. The village stretches on alarge lower elevated area on the south-eastern part ofthe mountain. Phnom Kulen is a high plateau with 25
kilometers length from northwest to southeast on 15
kilometers in width from southwest to northeast. The
plateau stands from 300 to 450 meters above the sea
level.
Anlong Thom village is supplied by the Thnal Dachmarshy water-source. Two accesses lead to the village.
One comes up from the east passing through down
town of Svay Loe district by a natural path. This path isaccessible only by pedestrians. The second is coming up
by the west passage, the new tourist road from Banteay
Srei district where they have to pay for the road. It’s
about 24 km away from the check-point, and about 8 km
from the water fall.
2. History
Kulen Mountain was a former Khmer capital city in the
9th century in the reign of the King Jayavarman II (802850); it was called “Mahendraparapata” (the mountainof Indra). It has also been a sacred place of the Khmer
Empire at that time up to now. There were more than 30
ancient brick temples, some ancient inscriptions, ancientdikes, rock shelters2 with relief, sculptures on river bed,
ceramic kilns, and canals rock painting, which indicatedoccupation on the plateau from early time of the Angkor
period, and most probably, the early human settlementsin the region. These conferred the important historic,
aesthetic, scientific, technological and sacred values of
the Phnom Kulen.
The region was well known of the practice andpreservation of tradition, beliefs, customs and continuing
practice of the archaic slashed-and-burn agriculture,hunting and gathering, which were extremely important
for their cultural heritage.

5

3. Objective
The project aimed to create a plan for a cultural village,
Phum Anlong Thom, developing from on their own
historical and cultural resources. The plan would beserved as a "Model for Preservation and Development of
the Community from their Existing Cultural and Natural
Resources".
The details of objectives were:- Systematically identify historic sites, cultural and naturalvalues of the community.
- Mapping the historic, cultural and natural sites, and thestudy of vernacular architecture- Conducting the anthropological survey and socialeconomic studies
4. Findings from the surveys
The present report is on the final stage while otherproject is ongoing in the field. That is “Phnom Kulen
Archaeological Program, Archaeology & Development
Foundation” conducted by J.B. Chevance, which included
the data of previous works (J. Boubet 1973 and J.B.
Chevance, 2008 - 2009). We found ﬁve rock paintings.
Rock Painting
There were five rock shelters located on the easternedges of Kulen, on 150 m to 190 m high above the sea
level, where we found paintings remained on walls or
ceilings of each shelter. Administratively, these sites
situated in Thmo Chrounh village about 7 km east ofAnlong Thom village. The five rock shelters were lying
along a creek ﬂowing from north to south (see map).
In addition, there were many rock shelters along thecreeks as well, but with no paintings and carvings. The
paintings were different from one another. The paintings
were at the place where sunlight and water could notreach and at about 70 cm to 5 m high from the ground.
We found two kinds of rock arts with a quick look:
the painting and the line drawing. Those were the first
discovery in the Kulen area.
5. Conclusion
The exceptional wealth of the Kulen is not limited toits archaeological and artistic remains, but includes aliving cultural heritage of inestimable importance inanthropological terms. Kulen populations are known
to be particularly conservative with respect to ancestral
traditions, and a great number of archaic cultural
practices that have disappeared elsewhere, continue tobe performed in its village. What is more, many of these1

Extracted information from LARP report and photos

2

Literally called Poeng in Khmer

of subtle equilibrium among nature, culture, human, andsocial and economic activities.

The Kulen heritage offers incomparable potential
for economic prosperity, which can in turn provide
favourable climate and necessary means for protection of
the Khmer heritage for the generation to come. However,the situation remains extremely delicate. Under thepresent conditions of persistent poverty in economics
as well as in administrative terms, the potential wealthof the region will be exposed to exploitation on an
unprecedented scale. It is only on a context of well
regulated economic dynamism that the cultural heritage
can be protected and in turn it will make essential
contribution to economic stabilization, sustainable
development providing durable national interest to Kulen.

Planning for Development
The future of Anlong Thom community much depends
on their potential in cultural and natural resources.
Several plans have been formalized for the community as
follows:
Agriculture Plan: The idea is not to create any
project, but to formalize a plan for exploiting existing
resources, promoting and exporting agricultural
products.
Tourism Plan: There is a need to promote “newdestination” from existing resources: nature,environment, culture, history, geology, science, etc.
Archaeological and 3D drawing maps will serve forthe planning.
Water Plan: Kulen is chateau d’eau of Siem Reap.
The water source is used here and supplied Siem
Reap city and other downstream districts. An idea is
proposed to closely work with villagers living in theregion in order to share water sources for healthy
management system.
Human Resources Plan: Most of Anlong Thom
population is still illiterate and in low educationlevel because the village is distant from the city.
The research shows that villagers manifest highmotivation in vocational training. Any development
plans should be accompanied by a training program.

6. Recommendation: General question- Minimize any development project because thecurrent landscape and environment are valuable for thecommunity.
- Preserve the existing landscape and environment
because they are valuable resources for future AnlongThom.
- Encourage local people to preserve their identity andtheir natural and cultural resources- Enhancement and promotion of community values in
the context- Any approach for the community should be ensured toreach “sustainable development” which is a mechanism

Cambodia

traditions are only found here, reﬂecting the speciﬁcity of
the Kulen’s rich historical legacy.

Rock painting locations

A topographic map of Angkor and Kulen region
The rock temple

6Cambodia
7

Reclining Visnu and other Brahmanism gods near Poeng Tbal

Srah Dam Rei: elephants and lions

Poeng Dai Rea

Rock painting: a head of bull, a palm, a series of square traits,
zigzag and others

Rock painting at Poeng La-ang Thom: three human images,
two bulls and circles

Rock painting at Poeng Kumnou: two human images and three bulls

Poeng Kob: The painting of human beings, the spiral showed behindthe head (areole?) and other animals

The trait found at Peong Veal Preah Pad

IndiaR E P ORT

India

ACCU

Conservation of Arab-Ki-Sarai
Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist
Archaeological Survey of India

The Arab Sarai (Lat. 28°35' N; Long. 77° 14' E), locatedin South District of New Delhi, was built by Akbar's
mother (Haji Begum), and was so called because it was
the habitation of some three hundred Arabs, whom she
may have brought back from Mecca (The Seven Cities
of Delhi, p. 62). The Arab Ki Sarai comprised a large
enclosure adjoining to south western corner of the
Humayun’s tomb.
It is divided into two quadrangles by series of cells
provided with a gateway in the centre. Immediately
outside of its lofty eastern entrance, approached bya gateway from the east, is the second quadrangle,
originally bounded by arched cells, known as mandi(market). It was a later addition by Mihr Banu, chief
eunuch in the time of Jahangir, A.D. 1605-1627 (Inventoryof Monuments and Sites of National Importance, vol. I,
part 3, Delhi Circle, p. 92).
Conservation is the process of preserving the built
heritage whether it is a historic monument or site orcultural property created in the past. This process ensures
to keep this heritage in a state that it remains a valuable
source of knowledge, for the coming generations. The
word ‘conservationʼ is a general term used in preserving
our cultural heritage. It is the action taken to prevent
decay and includes all actions that prolong the life of ourcultural heritage.
Conservation work was carried out in the cells adjoining
to the eastern gateway and eastern gateway, eastern andsouthern walls, dalan of the northern gateway, cells,
ceiling and ﬂoor in Arab-Sarai. The monuments including
the eastern and western gateways and the arched cells
along the central courtyard have been extensively
repaired using traditional building materials andtechniques. Major works included repair and restorationof damaged arches of the cells; relaying the terrace
concrete; underpinning of the dislodged stones of therandom rubble masonry; water tightening the structural
remains in the complex; edging of the plaster concrete
over the wall; and relaying the floor concrete. The
southern ﬂank of the complex originally had a stepped
well, but it was almost covered with structural debris. It
was conserved and provided proper structural stability.

wall over the west dalan of the northern gateway were
repaired. Open joints in rubble walls, ceiling and ﬂoor of
the gateways were pointed and the holes, hollows andcracks were grouted. In the Mandi area of the Sarai, thebreaches in the southern wall were closed and the out-ofplumb masonry was repaired. The fallen portions of theeastern gateway were restored. The damaged and bulged
wall of the inner cells was reconstructed in keeping withthe original and the arches were strengthened. The workof face-lifting of the monument has been completed.
Extensive structural repairs which involved rubble stone
masonry, pointing and plastering with composite mortar
were carried out by following the original pattern.
Apart from this, the worn-out and decayed wooden gateof the eastern gateway was replaced by a smaller irongate. During the conservation work, an ancient steppedwell was also partially exposed and the masonry waspreserved. A garden was also developed at Arab-Ki-Saraiand bajri was spread over the causeways.
Conservation works in Arab Sarai were done as and when
there were requirements. Unnecessary intervention to themonument was discouraged and ceased. Best possible
treatment was given to the monuments in respect to theavailability of materials and techniques. It is only due
to these in time works, the monument is standing as awitness of the history to the present.
Bibliography
１）Indian Archaeology – A Review. 1957-58, 1959-60,
1961-62, 1962-63, 1969-70, 1974-75, 1978-79, 1980-81,
1992-93.
２）Inventory of Monuments and Sites of National
Importance. vol. I, part 3, Delhi Circle, Published by
the Director General, Archaeological Survey of India,
New Delhi, 2004.
３）Gordon Risley Hearn Captain. The Seven Cities ofDelhi. W. Thacker & co., 2, Creed Lane, e.g., Calcutta
and Simla: Thacker, Spink & Co. Bombay: Thacker &Co., Limited, 1906.
４）Sharma, Y. D. Delhi and its Neighbourhood.
Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, 2001.

The masonry of the eastern and southern walls had
fallen and bulged out in parts. It was reconstructed andthe open joints were pointed to arrest the growth ofvegetation and water ﬂow into the structure. The decayed
and missing rubble masonry of the cells adjoining theeastern gateway was reconstructed and the floors wererelaid with lime-concrete. Broken patches of the parapet-

8

IndiaPlan of Arab Sarai

Eastern gateway of Arab Sarai in early 20th century

Eastern gateway of Arab Sarai(before conservation)

Eastern gateway of Arab Sarai(after conservation)

Cells, Arab Sarai (before conservation)

9

Damaged cells at Arab Sarai (a general view)

Cells, Arab Sarai (after conservation)

IndiaMosque, Arab Sarai (before conservation)

Well, Arab Sarai (before conservation)

Well, Arab Sarai (after conservation)

Damaged cells, Arab Sarai (before conservation)

Mosque, Arab Sarai (after conservation)

Well, Arab Sarai (after conservation)

Damaged cells, Arab Sarai (after conservation)

10

Indonesia
Indonesia

ACCU

RE PORT

Restoration of the Old Palace Sumbawa
Mohammad Nastsir Ridwan Muslim, Head of Section
Directorate of Archaeological Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Preface
Old Palace of Sumbawa is one of the important cultural
heritage in Indonesia. Old Palace is situated on theisland of Sumbawa, Sumbawa Besar Regency, West Nusa
Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Old Palace Sumbawa wasbuilt in 1885 by the kingdom of Sumbawa, governance
Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah III. The building wasconstructed to replace the previous palace that has been
burned, and used by the King.
This palace has the prestige architecture building in theform of stage twins with 99 poles rafters. The number
99 is a symbol of the attributes of God in Islam (Asmaul
Husna). Poles of the building is cylindrical-shaped with adiameter of 30-40 cm. These poles stand on umpak stone.
The distance between the poles is between 5 to 5.30 m
at the north-south direction, and 2.5 to 2.9 m in the eastwest direction. The foundation of the building is 18.1
m x 31 m. The height of the building is 13.5 m. Palacebuilding consists of two units, connecting each other at
the second ﬂoor of the building and two separate ﬂoorsof the building west and east building. The first floor
has 12 rooms; while in the second floor has two large
rooms. Wood shingle material is used for saddle-shapedroofs and storey buildings. All the building components
including beams, floors, walls and roofs are made ofwood. The spaces are grouped according to function of
the public space, semi-public and private. Since 1994
up to now, the Old Palace building has been used as a
museum in Sumbawa region.

Old Palace Sumbawa, 2001

Old Palace of Sumbawa is a large wooden building withcomplex and serious problems in structure, architecture
and materials, which needs proper handling of restoration.
Restoration efforts of this building are one of the modelsof cooperation between Indonesia and Japan. One of thecooperation is the assistance of Japanese experts from the
Agency for Cultural Affairs and JACAM (Japan Associationof Conservation of Architectural Monument). The palacebuilding refurbishment project has been carried out from2004 and scheduled for completion in late 2010.
Restoration WorkIn accordance with the procedure of restorationof cultural heritage buildings in Indonesia, before
restoration, technical studies of restoration must be
carried out. Technical studies for restoration wereconducted in the year of 2001 by restoration experts fromIndonesia and Japan. Technical studies for refurbishment
aimed to provide appropriate guidance in the restorationof the Old Palace of Sumbawa. Some of the activities
undertaken in the restoration of technical studies included
the research of the building; documenting the building;building materials research; environmental research andits layout; and the methods and techniques of building
renovations.
Based on the results of technical studies of restoration,
we concluded the overall condition of the building.
The main problem was the slope of the main buildings

Old Palace Sumbawa, 2001

Figure of elevation of the Old Palace of Sumbawa drawn by JACAM, 200211

Based on the study and analysis of building structureson the technical studies in 2001, the method of handlingdamage of the building was decided as partial restoration.
Partial restoration was carried out by straightening thesloping main poles without dismantling all building
components. Dismantling of building components was
performed only on non-structural members. Before
straightening the main poles, the stakes between thepoles and the beams should be loose. After that, themain structure was pulled to be straightened, and thentensioned with spikes again.
The restoration phase I in 2004, conducted with theaim of early preparation before straightening the mainpoles of the building, targeted on restoration activities
such as strengthening the foundation by utilizing a local
foundation, umpak umpak-rock as the base of the mainpoles; drainage improvement around the building; making
the museum collection storage warehouses as well as
exhibition space; making the demolition of buildings
storage warehouses; manufacturing four concrete blocks
as the main attraction poles; and the procurement of
substitute materials.
In the second restoration in 2005, the work began to

The poles of the building leaned to westward.

Enforcement of the main poles, 2008

uphold the supporting poles by using heavy equipment
such as pulleys, winches and other assistive devices,
equipped with alternating strings, drawn from the easternside by holding on reinforced concrete beams that had
been prepared previously. Several times, we tried to pull
the pillars which had the slope, but these efforts were notvery effective, even though some parts of the wall whichwere believed to strongly bind the construction werereleased, especially those located on all four corners ofeach building. Overall, 10 were dismantled in a series ofwalls in the ﬁrst ﬂoor, but the position of the main poles
were not moved, so that the enforcement was stopped,because if the way was forwarded, we feared it would
cause further damage. Enforcement efforts of poles did
not show a signiﬁcant buffer, for the structure of the Old
Palace was interrelated with each other. Considering
this situation, the evaluation was conducted to assess
the need for restoration by total dismantling of building
components, except the main pillars and beams pile
fastener.

Indonesia

caused by the shift of the main building structure; themain pillars of buildings had a tilt to the west. Anotherproblem was caused by the inevitable nature of woodmaterials: frame ﬂoors, ﬂoorboards, walls and roofs werepartially damaged and weathered.

Restoration Phase III in 2006 changed the method ofrestoration from partial to a total refurbishment, resulting
in additional volume of work. The barracks, built toaccommodate the demolition, were no longer sufﬁcient,and so we needed additional space to accommodate
dismantled wooden members. New problems occurred
when dismantling building components on the second
ﬂoor as the ﬂoor boards, beams under the ﬂoors, walls,
doors and windows, as well as the roof, and some ofthe defects in the original elements were found. Tensile

Moving of the main beam by apulley, 2008

Inspection of the main beam before reinstalling, 200812

Indonesia

beam of a size 35 x 40 cm with a length ranging from 5
up to 6.60 m deteriorated at the top. Based on technicalconsiderations, this element must be replaced. The
replaced beams due to damage summed into as many as
26 among 31 beams in total. According to an agreement
on a replacement, it was decided to use teak wood of
good quality with good size and length of a woodencross with the original size. To obtain materials for
replacement with the same technical requirements, thesematerials must be imported from Java.
Restoration Phase IV in 2007 targeted restoration activities
such as dismantling the original building components on
the second floor, amputations and fillings. Amputations
were performed on 11 damaged main poles followed byreplacing the damaged section with the same woodenmaterial. From the total dismantlement of the second
floor, it was revealed that roofs of the building wereseverely damaged. The deteriorated materials, caused bybacteria and beetles, cannot technically be used again.
With these considerations, the replacement of elements
should pay proper attention to authenticity.
The aim of restoration of phase V in 2008 is to improve
the poles enforcement; to reassemble structural members;
and to replace components into the original position,
especially with main structural consolidation. The
restoration work included installation of main blocks ofsize 35 x 45 cm; ﬁtting ornaments carved on the bottom
surface of the beam, attached by screws and reinforced
with glue; amputation pole; strengthening the main
structure by installation of reinforcing beams by filling13

the block of wood poles along 60 cm between the beams
reinforced with bolts and clamps as many as 31 points;
and conservation of components of the original buildingsin the traditional way.
The aims of restoration of phase VI in 2009 includes
reassembling non-structural building components such as
partial roof truss, floor, walls, doors and windows, andinstallation of lightning protection devices. Until Octoberin 2009, the achievement of Old Palace Sumbawa
restoration project has reached 80%.
The restoration phase VII in 2010 has reached the ﬁnal
stage. Until now, the progress of restoration of Sumbawa
Old Palace has reached 95%, the remaining work has tobe completed in 2010 which is perfecting the installationof building components.
Conclusion
The restoration plan of the Sumbawa Old Palace from2004 to today, changed from a partial restoration tototal restoration. Changes in the restoration guidelineof this building have resulted in changes in the volume
and schedule of the restoration work. Changes in therestoration plan have become an important factor toachieve restoration aim of cultural heritage.
Note:
Umpak-umpak: rounded stone, used as a foundation of a
traditional building.

Restoration work, 2009

Restoration work, 2010

Restoration work viewed from above, 2008

Restoration work viewed from above, 2010

Malaysia
R E P ORT

Conservation of Wall Murals at the Old Machap Mosque, Alor Gajah, Malacca, Malaysia
A Ghafar Bin Ahmad, Deputy Commissioner of Heritage
Department of National Heritage, Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, Malaysia

Introduction
The Old Machap Mosque is located at Bukit Sedanan(Sedanan Hill), Durian Tunggal, Alor Gajah in the State ofMalacca, Malaysia. It was built in 1902 by Jailani Mendik
Masap or locally known as Datuk Machap, a Makasar
descendent from Indonesia. The mosque was designed
symmetrically with two-tier roof structures and a small
dome on top the roof, a typical design of many traditionalmosques in Malacca. The Old Machap Mosque started off
as a place of worship for Datuk Machap and his Muslim
communities. During the World War II, Datuk Machap
helped the local Chinese communities. In return, theChinese communities had gathered a great sum of money
to renovate the mosque. The original structure of themosque which was made of timber had been replacedwith bricks, timber, terracotta tiles and roof clay tiles. A
marble plaque was placed onto the exterior wall listing
down, in Chinese characters, the name of donors and theamount of donations. In the 1980s, the mosque was rarely
used as the nearby areas were turned into a reservoir for
the State of Malacca. Today, the Old Machap Mosque andits surrounding areas are located in a reserved land ownedby the water company Syarikat Air Melaka Berhad. The
mosque and its cemetery area are currently maintained by
Haji Mohd Husin bin Mahmor who is the 8th generation of
Datuk Machap descendant.

The Old Macap Mosque was designed symmetrically with
two-tier roof structures and a small dome on top the roof.

Malaysia

ACCU

Apart from its unique roof design, the mosque is also
known for its wall murals depicting the images of plants,
flowers, fruits and vases. In 2008, under the National
Heritage Act 2005, the Old Machap Mosque has been
listed as a heritage building. On 21 December 2009, theDepartment of National Heritage, Ministry of Information,
Communications and Culture, Malaysia took an initiative
to conserve the wall murals at the Old Machap Mosque.
The conservation of wall murals involved removing the
new layers of paints which had been painted over during
the last restoration. Local experts from the National Art
Gallery were engaged to conserve the wall murals. The
conservation works were completed on 8 January 2010 at
the cost of RM 22,000 ($6,414 USD).
Wall Murals
There are 27 panels of wall murals found on the northern,southern and eastern exterior walls of the Old Machap
Mosque. The wall murals portray several images including
plants, ﬂowers, fruits, geometrical shapes, and vases. These
images are also found above window and door frames.
Some of these images are in 3-dimensional forms that makethem unique. The color scheme, design and the painting
methods of these wall murals are similar to those usedin China. However, there is no image of human figures

A view showing the mosque and the nearby reservoir

A marble plaque was placed onto the exterior wall listing down, in Chinese characters, the name of donors and the amount of donations.

14

Malaysia

or animals on the wall murals. This is due to the fact that
the Islamic teachings forbid the use of ﬁgurative motifs atreligious buildings including mosques and musollas . Thereis no record of when the paintings were drawn on theexterior walls but it is believed that they are related to theChinese donors that had helped to restore the mosque inthe 1940s.
Conservation of the Wall Murals
Before conservation works began, a dilapidation surveyof the wall murals was conducted by a team of experts
from the National Art Gallery Malaysia. All panels of wallmurals were carefully inspected and documented. The
survey identiﬁed that the wall murals had shared common
defects which were over painting, chipping and breaking ofplaster on the surface of the murals; and scratches on boththe plaster as well as the original painted surfaces. Somewere found to have stained marks and crusts from dried
paints. During the last restoration of the mosque, there
were attempts to repaint the wall murals though they were
not done accordingly. However, only a few murals, mainly
above the window and door frames, were left untouched,
portraying the original colours of the paintings.
Conservation works began on 21 December 2009. The
main purpose of the conservation works was to clean
the wall murals, particularly removing the new layers ofpaints to the original paints. This includes the identiﬁcationof the defective murals and demarcating them on scaled
drawings, collection of preliminary data such as the weather
conditions, humidity as well as the intensity of UV rays at
the site. Further investigations were carried out to identify
the defects for each wall mural and determining the typesof paints used. The conditions of the wall murals wererecorded before, during and after conservation. Each wallmural was given a special code for documentation andreferences.
The cleaning process involved both dry and wet cleaning
techniques. The dry cleaning process was carried out
manually by using soft brush, wire brush and scraping tools.
All dirt and dusts found on the wall murals were carefullycleaned before applying the wet cleaning technique. The
wet cleaning technique involved removing of new layersof paints using cotton tips and chemical solutions such as
ethanol and trichloroethylene. Paper pulp technique wasalso applied onto wall murals which contained high levelof moisture. The paper pulp technique requires three tofour days depending on the moisture level and weather
conditions. Scraping works were also carried out to rectify
mainly on over-painted wall murals. During conservation
works, plastic sheets were used to protect the wall murals
from dusts and rain. All wall murals were later protectedwith synthetic resin coating of methacrylates (paraloid B
72).
Conclusions
Conservation of wall murals at the Old Machap Mosquerequired knowledge and skills. Using appropriate methods
and techniques in the conservation works helped toprolong the lifespan of the wall murals. Upon completionof the wall mural conservation, the mosque resumes its
function as a place of worship. The conservation of wallmurals at the Old Machap Mosque has shown a goodcollaboration between the Department of National Heritage
and the National Art Gallery Malaysia in conserving theheritage building. Today, the mosque is frequently visitedby the locals as well as tourists who appreciate its uniquewall murals and also its scenic view over looking thereservoir.

Wall murals found on the exterior walls depicting the images of plants, ﬂowers, fruits, geometrical shapes and vases

The wet cleaning technique involved the application of cotton tips and chemical solutions to remove the new layers of paints.

15

Malaysia

Paper pulp technique was applied to areas which had high level of moisture content.

Plastic sheets wrer temporarily used to protect the wallmurals from dust and rain

A wall mural before (above) and after (below) conservation

Images of the wall mural revealing its original colours (right)

16

Mongolia
Mongolia

ACCU

RE PORT

The Khoit Tsenkher Cave Rock Paintings
Munkhjargal Nergui, Cultural Assistant
Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO

Justification
Given the considerable and unique importance ofMongolian rock art within the cultural heritage ofMongolia and Central Asia, it is clear that petroglyphic art
is a principle part of the Mongolian historical and cultural
heritage. Research of the rock art sites in the territoryof Mongolia has been conducted for over 130 years.
During this period, a lot of rock art sites has been foundand studied constantly. Those sites reveal that the art ofpetroglyps once highly developed in Mongolia in thepast.
Rock paintings of the Khoit Tsenkher cave date back to
the Upper Palaeolithic period (20,000-15,000 years ago).
In one of corners of the cave measuring 2.5 m high and1.5-2.0 m deep, numerous symbols and animals werepainted overlapping each other on the ceiling and wall.
A quiet standing stag was portrayed clearly among theanimals. Also a standing buffalo with horns looking ahead
was represented separately. In another corner of the cave,
many animals including oxes, ibexes, elephants, ostriches
were pictured, overlapping each other. It is interestingthat dotted lines were drawn over the ostriches. On its
wall in a cave hollow measuring 10 m long and 8 m
wide a camel with to humps was portrayed. Also many
symbols and trees were painted at the height of 2.0-2.5 m
not far from the wall, where the camel was portrayed.
Lions, elephants, argali sheep, ibexes, ostriches,
antelopes, camels, as well as symbols were painted withmineral-based paints of rosy and brown colours on thewalls deep inside the cave.
Outstanding universal values
Rock paintings of Khoit Tsenkher cave are unique anddifferent from other rock paintings commonly found in
Mongolia and considered as a special ancient arts formin terms of the uniform style for drawing wild animals
with ‘real’ features. Considering the method of paintingof different kinds of animals, their colours and views, theKhoit Tsenkher cave rock paintings show their originalartistic, cultural and historical features which are different
from the other rock paintings in Mongolia and herneighbouring countries.
Khoit Tenkher cave paintings definitely demonstrate
an original and unique history and culture world.
Their styles and elements manifest exclusive traditionsof ancient Mongols’ culture and lifestyle. These rockpaintings represent Central Asian and mainland Asia’s
neighboring countries’ earliest culture, and date back to
the earliest Homo’s creations. The paintings do not only
illustrate just objects, but also reveal artistic imaginations
and techniques of painters. One of specific features of17

Khoit Tsenkher cave paintings is that they do not depict
or portray human beings at all. They are devoted to only
animals, in particular wild animals.
Conservation
Rock paintings of Khoit Tsenkher cave have been erodedand damaged due to their old age and impacts fromweather elements. Besides, the most alarming concern
appears inappropriate human actions affecting integrity ofthese heritage elements negatively. These rock paintings
had not attracted people’s attention until some years
ago and local residents’ beliefs and customs played an
important and positive role to ensure integrity of rockpaintings.
Unfortunately, rock paintings have been damaged due
to improper human actions and livestock hoofs in recent
years, whereas names of nearby places have changed byand large as compared to that used in old days or even
100 years ago. In some cases, some earliest and mostimportant paintings showing buffalo and red deer have
faded away and deleted due to impacts of above modern
day factors and phenomena. Previously, people were not
attracted to or interested in these rock paintings becauseof lack of information and its isolated remote location.
Currently, it is concerned that better information about
the sites is disseminated, the more carelessly people
become to spoil and damage these valuable historical
items. Another concern looks that using old-fashioned
research techniques might damage paintings whencleaning surface of rocks and highlighting rock paintings
with additional unnecessary drawings on rock surface.

Mongolia

The entrance to the Khoit Tsenkher cave

The Khoit Tsenkher cave rock painting

18

NepalNepal

ACCU

RE PORT

People's Involvement in Heritage Conservation: Swayambhu Stupa Conservation
Suresh Suras Shrestha, Archaeological Ofﬁcer
Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Culture & State Reconstructing

The Swayambhu Stupa is one of the most important andthe oldest monuments of Kathmandu valleys, which isstill worshipped not only by many people in Nepal but
also people in many other countries in the world. The
stupa has the perfect tranquility between the Buddhists
and Hindus and it is the symbol for the world peace.
There is no inscription and any other evidence about theexact date of its construction, but some of the inscription
say that some parts of the stupa was reconstructed in the
medieval period (13th – 16th century A.D.) and there
were many conservation work done in the medieval
period as well as in the Rana period (18th – 19th century
A.D.). But there is no full documentation about theprevious conservation/renovation work of it, except somedocuments only mentioning the donors' name list andamount they donated.
The major renovation of Swayambhu Stupa was held
under the direction of Dharma Man Tuladhar, a devoted
businessman and sponsored by Lamas in NS 1038. At thattime the nine niches shrines, four shrines of Taras alongwith those of the five Dhyani Buddhas, were rebuilt;
which was sponsored by three brothers Harsa Sundar,
Pushpa Sundar and Ram Sundar .

The next objective was the conservation of wooden
structures of the Swayambhu stupa, especially thewooden structures used in above-mentioned hermika forjhallars, goldhoja and the rings of Trayodasha Bhuvana as
well as in the ‘yashti’ (the major vertical pillar, which isused as the vertebra or the spinal cord of the stupa and it
is in the inner side from foundation to the top).
The project was launched by the Tibetan Nyngma
Meditation Centre, California (an international donor
agency) with the cooperation of Department ofArchaeology (Government of Nepal) and Federation of
Swayambhu Management and Conservation (Local NGO).

Conservation of Stupa
The Department of Archaeology (DoA) had given

A technical committee was organised for the projectin the right way, consisting of the representatives from
DoA, District Administrative Office, District Police
Office, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), Guthi
Sanasthan, KMC 15 Ward Ofﬁce, FSCM, donors and localorganizations as well as local people, which was theleading committee for the conservation of Swayambhu
stupa. Beside this, there were three more committees
for the different tasks: Conservation (Removing/
Reinstallation) Monitoring Committee (CMC), Gold andGold Gilding Monitoring Committee (GMC) and Gold
Gilding Experts Committee (GEC), which almost consistedof local people and local organizations of Swayambhu.
Those committees helped a great deal to carry out theconservation work smoothly. Actually the local people
and the local organizations played a vital role for

The deteriorated wooden parts of hermika

Removing copper sheets for gold gilding

Since the NS 1038 renovation of Swayambhu Stupa,
there had been no need to repair the stupa, but some ofthe parts such as parasols, pinnacles and jewel clusters
needed to be repaired and they were repaired in NS 1098.
Before restoration, gilded gold on copper sheets were
gradually worn out, and wooden materials were also
decaying day by day due to natural weathering during along interval of renovation, nearly about a century. So, it
was needed to renovate the whole stupa as it was donein NS 1038.

19

permission for conservation work to the Federation of
Swayambhu Conservation and Management (FSCM).
At first, gilding Swayambhu with gold on the copper
sheets which were used as the covering of niches,
hermika, goldhoja, trayodasha bhuvana and pinnacle wascompleted and some minor structural conservation of the
stupa was made.

Conclusion
The goal of Swayambhu Conservation Project was togild with gold on the worn out copper sheets covering
the main stupa of Swayambhu. The gold gilding of thewhole copper sheets as previously planned according
to the heritage conservation guidelines and installing intheir original places of nine niches around the dome, hascompleted successfully within its targeted time frame.
However, there were some problems in management
during the conservation work after the completionof nine niches shrines and the work was delayed forsome months, due to the lack of understanding for
local people/community involvement and coordination
between the local organizations and the leadingorganization management (FSCM) team. The problem wassolved and the work has completed successfully.
The Swayambhu conservation project was one of thegreat important conservation work done not only in
Kathmandu valley, but in Nepal. It was really such a
big conservation project that was funded by the foreign
donor agency. The conservation work was held for
Swayambhu stupa after an interval of a century, whichis also a great important matter for all. Although there
was not any documentation on previous conservation of
stupa, the project has prepared a well documentation thistime, which can be helpful to everyone on conservationof the stupa in the future and heritage conservation as
well.

Nepal

motivating the whole people to care for the heritage
conservation and everyone in the area was taking care of
the work as well as monitored indirectly, which helped tosecure/guard the archaeological remains of stupa during
the conservation work.

The conservation work was also very important for those
who were really devotees of Lord Buddha and worriedthemselves that stupa were deteriorating to the worst
condition. Conservation of Swayambhu stupa was thegreat achievement in the following points:- An example of people/community involvement inheritage conservation in Nepal, which is very rare;- The conservation work was done after an interval of acentury for the whole stupa;- Complete documentation on the structure andconservation process of the stupa was made, which
can be useful for other ancient monument/heritage
conservation as well as for the future generations orfor the future conservation works.
The Swayambhu conservation project was the great
achievement, but the heritage conservation does not end
once it is completed. Conservation is a ongoing process
and people should remember and well consider it. The
communities will learn from this project for the futureconservation of the stupa and heritage as well.

Swayambhu Stupa

Before conservation

Vajra N Manadal after conservation

During conservation

After conservation

Performing Puja during conservation by the head priest

20

New Zealand
New Zealand

ACCU

RE PORT

Managing the Eﬀects of Coastal Erosion on Heritage: Maori Archaeological Sites on Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula), Dunedin
Matthew Schmidt, Regional Archaeologist, Otago/Southland
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust

Introduction
The first people to colonise New Zealand were of East
Polynesian origin making landfall on the New Zealandcoast ca. 1300 A.D. These people developed their own
unique culture known today as the Maori culture madeup of the various Iwi (tribes) distributed throughout New
Zealand. Before Europeans (Pakeha) began to colonise
New Zealand soon after the arrival of Capt. James Cookin 1769, Maori had explored all parts of New Zealand(Aotearoa) and lived on the coast and inland concentratingin areas where horticulture was possible and where fresh
water and marine resources were also available.
In Southern New Zealand, ie. the lower half of the South
Island constituting the Otago/Southland Regions (Figure1), horticulture was not possible prior to Pakeha arrival
due to the cool temperatures not being conducive to thehorticultural species available to Maori. Because of this,Maori occupation was concentrated on the coastal areas formost of the year due to the availability of marine resources
as a staple food source, particularly after the extinction of
moa possibly sometime in the 15th century A.D. (Figure2). This concentration of a large portion of Southern Maoriarchaeology/history on the coastline is now providing
challenges to Iwi on how to manage their cultural heritage
resource due to notable increases in coastal erosion which
is destroying archaeological sites at an alarming rate. This
loss of sites appears to have accelerated on the Otago/
Southland coastline over the last ca. six years. This reportpresents one way in which this heritage loss is being
managed on Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula), Dunedin.
Maori Coastal Archaeology
Otago/Southland coastal Maori archaeological sites are
predominantly midden sites consisting of cooking andliving debris from occupation activities (Figure 3). Thesesites commonly contain marine shell, bone (from fish,

bird, sea mammal, dog and, in early sites, Moa) and hangi(oven) stones. They can also contain a variety of artefacts
such as flake tools, adzes, fern root beaters, fishingequipment (hooks and sinkers), adornments etc. and, if theenvironment is right, wooden artefacts (Figure 4). Midden/
occupation sites can also contain human remains (koiwi).
Other sites along the coast consist of pa (defended retreatsor living areas typically on high locations) and kāinga
(village settlements). But as Maori living structures weremade of wood, little above ground evidence of these pa
and kāinga can typically be seen, and so middens are themost noticeable evidence of Maori occupation as they are
exposed on eroding coastlines.
Maori Archaeological Sites on Muaupoko and the Effects of
Coastal Erosion
Muaupoko was occupied soon after the first arrival of
Polynesians in New Zealand (Figures 5, 6 & 7). Today the
Otakou Runanga (Council) located at the Otakou Maraeon the Otago Peninsula are the Maori guardians of thearchaeological sites and have kaitiakitanga (guardianship)over the land and water.
Muaupoko was an ideal place for settlement by Maori dueto the abundance of sea and estuarine resources, such asshellfish, fish, and seals, and large flightless birds, suchas Moa (Figure 2) which were prevalent early on. The
exposed midden, occupation and oven archaeologicalsites recorded along the shores of the inlets and along thebeaches reﬂect the different activities of Maori here overhundreds of years including moa hunting, fishing, tool
manufacture and the trade and exchange of goods fromoutside the area (see below). Occupation was seasonal on
Muaupoko prior to Pakeha (European) arrival, as shownat other archaeological sites which have been excavatedand researched along the Otago/Southland coastline, totake advantage of the changes in resources available intĂŝƚĂŬŝZŝǀĞƌ

KƚĂŐŽDƵĂhƉŽŬŽ ;KƚĂŐŽWĞŶŝŶƐƵůĂͿƵŶĞĚŝŶ^ŽƵƚŚůĂŶĚ



Figure 1. The Southern Region of New Zealand and the location of
Muaupoko (the Otago Peninsula), Dunedin. The Southern Coastline
from the Waitaki River southwards is experiencing increased coastal
erosion causing signiﬁcant loss to Maori heritage. (Map sourced from
InfoMap 266. Crown Copyright Reserved).

21

Figure 2. Large ﬂightless birds were the only terrestrial fauna available
to Maori to hunt as New Zealand had no terrestrial mammals. Moa
were the main game hunted and became quickly extinct perhaps in the
15th century AD. (Figure from Anderson 1989).

New ZealandFigure 5. Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula), Dunedin (Sourced from NZMS
260 I44 Ed 2, Crown Copyright Reserved).

Figure 3. Typical examples of eroding coastal Maori middens along the
Otago/Southland coastline containing marine shell, bone, hangi (oven)stones and artefacts. Such middens are eroding at an increasing rate
(Photos: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 4. Examples of Maori artefacts from Archaic (Early ca. 13001500AD) and Classic (Late ca. 1500AD-late 1800s) Period sites.
(Figure from Davidson 1984).

Figure 6. Distribution of Maori and Pakeha recorded archaeologicalsites on Muaupoko. Stars indicate recorded archaeological sites. The
majority of sites recorded on the coast are Maori sites with inland umu(ovens) on high points concentrated on the outer half of the peninsula(image sourced from ArchSite the NZ Archaeological Assn. online site
recording scheme www.ArchSite.org.nz).

Figure 7. Google Earth image of Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula)showing the long coastline where Pre-Pakeha Maori occupation wasconcentrated. The focus of Maori occupation on the coast has meantthat increased coastal erosion is causing significant loss to Maoriarchaeological heritage on Muaupoko.

22

New Zealandthe takiwa (territory, region) during the year. Later in thehistory of Muaupoko, and possibly just prior to Pakeha
arrived, permanent settlements had become established.
As Maori often occupied landforms typical of the coastal
environment around New Zealand such as sand dunes andbeach terraces, it is in this sandy matrix that many of themidden/occupation sites are found on Muaupoko. This soft
matrix means that these sites are particularly sensitive to
sea erosion and any increase in sea height and wave action
can bring about the rapid loss of these sites, as illustrated in
Figures 8 to 12. Of note on Muaupoko is that even coastal
terraces comprised of a solid matrix of compacted earthand volcanic stone are eroding at an increased rate and assuch is the evidence of Maori occupation on these terraces(Figures 13 to 17). The consequence of the sensitivity ofmany of the archaeological sites on Muaupoko to increased
sea erosion is that sites from all periods of Maori history
are being lost on the peninsula, with the signiﬁcant earlysites containing evidence of the ﬁrst settlers on Muaupoko
being the ﬁrst to disappear.
Material Culture Retrieved from Eroded Sites
Artefacts from the middens/occupation sites which havefallen onto the beach have probably been picked up by

23

the general public for many years. Fortunately, in some of
the inlets and bays on Muaupoko where increased erosion
has been observed, an amateur archaeologist has beenwalking the beach at these locations at low tide for thelast four years and retrieved any archaeological remains
encountered. These ﬁnds have been carefully stored andtheir location noted on a map of these inlets and bays.
Members of the Otakou Runanga have also recovered
artefacts etc. from the beaches meaning that at least someof the material culture being found has their provenanceknown.
The most sensitive of finds, which are unfortunately
becoming more common, are those of human remains
which are washing out of the dunes. These burials are
known as koiwi and represent to Maori their tipuna(ancestors). They are therefore of the highest importance to
Runanga and are the most concerning issue in the erosionof the archaeological sites.
In Figures 18 to 23 are shown the variety of taonga(treasures) and faunal remains being recovered on
Muaupoko and which is part of the Parson’s Collection,that being archaeological remains recovered by theamateur archaeologist Juliet Parsons. It can be seen from

Figure 8. Eroding dunes on Muaupoko. The steepness of the dunes
illustrates their rapid loss through increased sea erosion (Photo: Shar
Briden, DoC).

Figure 9. Close view of eroding face of old sand dune showing darkcharcoal stained stratigraphy and midden indicating past occupation.
Hangi (oven) stones and midden lie scattered on the beach in front of
the site (Photo: Shar Briden, DoC).

Figure 10. Close view of eroding dune face showing exposedarchaeological site as a thick band of midden (Photo: Shar Briden,
DoC).

Figure 11. Hangi Stones on the beach indicating where an oven was
located in the dunes. This archaeological feature has dropped straight
down onto the beach as the site has been eroded back by increased
wave action (Photo: Shar Briden, DoC).

Wooden artefacts require an anaerobic environment tobe preserved and are not common in New Zealand Maoriarchaeological sites. The wooden box type structure found(unknown function) as shown in Figure 24 was therefore
a signiﬁcant ﬁnd. It was manufactured from Totara wood
which used to be part of a waka (canoe) with one of thepieces originally being part of an outrigger canoe ﬂoat. This
piece of outrigger canoe ﬂoat is one of only three whichhave been found in an archaeological site in New Zealand.
This artefact is currently being conserved by Dilys Johns at
the Conservation Laboratory, Department of Anthropology,
University of Auckland.

It can be seen, theref ore, f rom the examples ofarchaeological remains recovered, that a very large amountof Maori material culture is probably being lost every year
on Muaupoko and so too is part of the story of Maori
settlement on the peninsula.

New Zealandthese figures that not only are the every day activities
and diet of Maori on the peninsula illustrated but also
evidence of the extensive trade networks which wereactive between Runanga/Iwi prior Pakeha arrival. The
pounamu (greenstone/jade) is from either a Central South
Island or South Island West Coast origin. The obsidian isfrom the North Island with the two colours of obsidian
identiﬁed possibly indicating two different source locations.
The silcrete from which the ﬂake tools are made is froma source outside of Dunedin and the adzes are madefrom different varieties of stone where some varieties may
originate from beyond the Peninsula.

Managing the Loss of Muaupoko Archaeological sites
The increased sea erosion of Muaupoko’s archaeologicalsites presents challenges to the Otakou Runanga on how
to manage this loss of heritage. Currently the NZHPT (New
Zealand Historic Places Trust) Regional Archaeologist,
the DoC (Department of Conservation) archaeologist for
the area, two independent professional archaeologists
and an amateur archaeologist currently reporting finds,
are supporting the Runanga in making decisions on the
management of the archaeological sites. Three approaches
on how to manage the eroding sites have been consideredby this group (as stabilisation of any sites cannot be
achieved):
1. Record cultural items as reported and undertake noformal monitoring
2. Monitor in a controlled manner those sites at high riskof rapid loss from erosion and visit other sites on an asneeded basis.
3. Choose which sites to undertake salvage excavation

Figure 12. Charcoal stained soil and midden being eroded out of thesoft sand dune (Photo: Shar Briden, DoC).

Figure 13. Archaeological site located on an eroding terrace. The hard
earth and volcanic rock composition of the terrace is a tougher matrix toerode than sand dunes, but sites such as this also appear to be eroding
more rapidly. Artefacts exposed lie next to the scale in the photograph(Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 14. Another example of the loss of a site located on a hard earthand volcanic rock terrace (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 15. Close view of terrace site showing dark cultural layer
containing marine shells, ﬁsh and seal bone and stone ﬂakes (Photo:
Matthew Schmidt).

24

New Zealand25

and monitor other sites at high risk of rapid loss from
erosion.
Option 1 would mean further unmonitored lost of heritage
with the risk of important material culture or koiwi foundby members of the public not being reported. Option
3 is the most extreme of intervention and may recoversignificant information from the most at risk sites before
they disappear. However, the resources available to the
Runanga, NZHPT and DoC to conduct an excavation(s)are limited and funding is not freely available for salvage
excavation. In addition, funds would also have to besourced for post-excavation analysis of material and so
although finance may be found for excavation, material
recovered may sit for many years in storage before
analysis.

this option are low with little equipment being required(standard field kit plus a GPS, digital camera and a PC)
and the use of volunteers means low personnel costs.
This option also means that obtaining funding for thisarchaeological work should be easier with any additional
funding gained being used to preserve unique wooden
items recovered.
To better undertake this monitoring, the NZHPT is writing
an Iwi Archaeological Site Monitoring Guide and Iwi
Monitoring Field Book to be used to train members of
the Runanga so as they can undertake monitoring of theirarchaeological sites. This approach to site monitoring has
not been undertaken previously in Southern New Zealand.

Controlled monitoring (Option 2) has therefore been
considered as the best and most practical method atpresent in managing the loss of archaeological heritage on
Muaupoko. In undertaking regular visits to chosen sites,
recording what is found and the changes which haveoccurred, data can be collected in a controlled manner
which can then be used to undertake an analysis of theheritage loss. This analysis will then inform on future
management options on the most at risk sites. Costs forConclusions
The ongoing loss of archaeological cultural heritage on
Muaupoko by increased coastal erosion is by no means
isolated to this location. Along the length of the Otago/
Southland coastline archaeological sites are being lost or
severely damaged. Muaupoko, though, is an example ofwhere at least some of the archaeological evidence may berecovered in a controlled manner when little funding forarchaeological salvage work is available. In addition, thetraining of Iwi monitors will mean Runanga will be directly

Figure 16. The author on an eroding volcanic rock/earth terrace wherean early archaeological site has been extensively eroded (Photo:
Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 17. Close view of terrace site showing cultural layer containing
marine shells, ﬁsh and seal bone and stone ﬂakes with hangi stones
lying on the beach (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 18. Artefacts recovered from eroding archaeological sites on
Muaupoko. Top: large argillite(?) adze; middle: small basalt adze or
chisel, pounamu chisels; bottom: basalt
rough-outof adzes inprocess of manufacture; far right: basalt stone fern root beater reworked
into an adze (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 19. Stone fishing sinkers showing carved grove for line
attachment (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Acknowledgements
This report would not have been possible without the
support of the Otakou Runanga who have provided accessto their valuable cultural heritage. Tēnā koutou. Essential tothis report also were archaeologists Juliet Parsons, Dr Jill
Hamel, Shar Briden and Brian Allingham.

Figure 20. Various stone tools. Far left: intricately shaped silcrete knife;
top row: silcrete and porcellanite flake tools and a silcrete chopper/
knife; middle row: silcrete, chert and silcrete ﬂake tools; bottom row:three obsidian ﬂakes from the North Island and a silcrete blade (Photo:
Matthew Schmidt).

References
Anderson, Atholl. 1989. Prodigious Birds: Moas and MoaHunting in Prehistoric New Zealand. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
Davidson, J. 1984. The Prehistory of New Zealand.
Auckland, N.Z. : Longman Paul, 1984.

New Zealandinvolved in the managing of their own heritage withsupport from various agencies and archaeologists.

Figure 21. Bones from eroding middens on Muaupoko. Far left: dog;
centre: bird ? large bones from mollymawk with long limb bone fashioned
into an awl; far right: fish with barracouta jaws, barracouta being acommon ﬁsh species found in the middens (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 22. Moa bone. Top: pieces of leg, vertebra and pelvis; bottom:
moa femur (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 23. Seal bone. Seals were also a focus of predation by early
Maori and is a common bone found in early sites. As moa and otherland bird numbers dwindled, seals became an increasingly importantfood source and were hunted out in many coastal areas (Photo:
Matthew Schmidt).

Figure 24. Wooden box structure (unknown function) as found in-situ on
a beach on Muaupoko. The timbers have been cut and drilled and had
once been part of a waka (canoe) (Photo: Matthew Schmidt).

26

Pakistan
Pakistan

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RE PORT

Documentation and Conservation of Vernacular Heritage in Pakistan: A Case of Khaplu Palace Complex
Salman Muhammad, Senior Conservation Architect
Aga Khan Cultural Service, Pakistan

INTRODUCTION
The case study of the 200 year old Khaplu Palace, ina very remote and mountainous area of Pakistan, will
present the outcomes and issues of documentation andconservation of an outstanding example of a vernacularmonument using EDM device for the ﬁrst time.

programme in Baltistan, the long term sustainability is
one of the prime objectives set by AKTC-AKCSP for thisproject. Working closely with the local community the
project is contributing to the revival of traditional woodand building crafts, income generation activities andcapacity building of locals.

Since 1991, Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP)1
has been involved in monument conservation in the
Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas of Pakistan),
with the active participation of local people. The
conservation of the 700 year old Baltit Fort in Hunza by
AKCSP demonstrated a strong regional innovative modelof heritage conservation, long term sustainability and its
use for local development. It also presented the concept
of architectural documentation for practical conservationin Pakistan. During these projects on-site training ofarchitects and engineers was offered, as well as summer
internships for students from architectural schools inorder to enhance exposure to firstly, conservation andsecondly, to the architectural survey as a basic step
before any intervention.

Site surveys and documentation prior to any conservation
and restoration works are now deﬁned as the basic prerequisite for understanding a historic building or site.
This has been widely expressed in many national andinternational charters and conventions – from Athens
Charter of 1933 to the Venice Charter of 1964 or the Burraof 1979. This discipline needs proper training, humanresources and equipment. In the absence of any previous
documentation efforts, the current documentation
programme with EDM equipment was experimental in its
own nature, its main objectives being:

In an area where the legislation regarding the protection
and inventory of the monuments is not fully active,the documentation of vernacular monuments andsettlements becomes even more crucial. Furthermore,international recognition in the form of UNESCO heritage
awards for completed projects made AKCSP realize theprocess of documentation as being a specialized ﬁeld inconservation. Essentially, all the previous projects were
following international guidelines for conservation but
the more speciﬁc guidelines (Article 16, Venice Charter)
relating to the precise recording and reinterpretation ofmonuments were slow to receive attention. Pursuing an
advanced master’s studies in architectural conservation at
Leuven, Belgium provided me with the chance of getting
hands-on experience and exposure to recent practices
in heritage conservation. REDM was one of the methods
which I introduced for the first time in Pakistan for
heritage documentation, and Khaplu Palace was the ﬁrst
monument surveyed using this method.
PROJECT LOCATION AND THE SURVEY
Located in the rugged Karakoram mountain range at
the height of 2500 meters, the Khaplu Palace is thefinest surviving edifice of royal residence in Baltistan.
Its signiﬁcance lies in its cultural importance as a former
seat of royal government in the area, and in its quality
as a building, both aesthetically and as an exemplarof traditional building typology with influences fromneighbouring regions (Kashmir, Ladakh, China, andCentral Asia). As part of a wider cultural heritage support

27- Disseminate and build capacity in recording techniqueswith REDM.
- Gather detailed information about a vernacularmonument and site in the form of base drawings.
- Detailed documentation of the as-found state of themonument, which ultimately allows us to propose
conservation and re-use plans.
- Set an example of architectural surveying which would
be available for researchers and experts for futurestudies.
- After conservation, this documentation will provide us
the basis for management, monitoring and maintenanceof the site and monument.
In a remote situation where documentation of heritage
faces huge challenges including the lack of experts,
communication, dissemination and standard guidelines,
the basic aim of this documentation campaign was
to address the cited challenges. Documentation is aprocess which continues during the conservation of any
monument and is the only accurate tool for recording
information in order to understand the structure,
ultimately leading to the management of cultural heritage.
The field survey, as a training process, was initiated inlate 2005 primarily to cover the topographical features ofthis historic vernacular site. Initially, the field data wasgathered with one total station and then downloaded
on a computer and converted to vector form into the
CAD software. Later, the more comprehensive stage of
documentation of the historic buildings was initiated1

AKCSP is the Pakistani arm of Geneva based Historic Cities Programmeof Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC)DOCUMENTATION AND INTERPRETATIONIn this project EDM (Electromagnetic Distance Measurement)
survey provided us an opportunity to interpret the obtained
data in a variety of ways. Most of the team members
knew the technique of architectural documentation
using conventional manual measurement and drawing
methods. The new EDM survey technique, therefore, wasnever going to be easy to understand and initially it was
critical that I provided them common and easy examples.
For this we initiated introductory lessons about the
instruments and the future interpretation of collected datain the form of drawings. In a remote environment thiswas not an easy job to do and it was therefore importantfor us to overcome the limitations of our survey with newtechnology. Soon the team realised that this techniquesubstantially reduced the amount of time and humanresource required for the documentation in comparison
to conventional and manual methods, and above all thatthe results are very precise and accurate.

Pakistanin first half of 2006 with the aim to document themonuments for the practical conservation works. The
conservation activities running simultaneously made thisdocumentation campaign more challenging as we needed
to record the as-found state of the monument and site.
Therefore, more practical solutions were worked out
to fit the time constraints and conservation activities.
The inevitable combination of EDM survey and rectiﬁed
photography was used. A combination of a ﬁeld laptop
with CAD and image rectiﬁcation software was practiced.

The team were also aware of the limitations of manual
documentation methods. The inaccuracies in the manual
documentation process due to the manual sketches, handmeasurements and the conversion of manually drawn
scaled drawings into vector drawing through a laborious
scanning and the drafting process were easily mitigatedwith this combination of EDM and rectiﬁed photography
surveys.
Since 2006, most of the architectural documentation has
been completed in the form of floor plans, reflectedceiling plans, structural drawings, detail elevationsof each room, cross sectional drawings, building
elevations and a complete 3D wire frame model. Mostof the major elevations and elevation features in the
cross sectional drawings were completed with the helpof image rectification software combined with EDM

Fig. 1. A complete 3D wire-frame model of the Fig. 2. North view of Khaplu Palace with main Fig. 3. Floor plan of Khaplu Palace at
Khaplu Palace.
entrance wooden loggia under restorationlevel 1.

Fig. 4. Rectiﬁed photography of western elevation of the 100 year old Darbar Khang

Fig. 5. East elevation of Khaplu Palace site. Hundreds of years old historic agricultural walls and buildings are documented using EDM (total station)
survey and rectiﬁed photography techniques. This drawing is a 3D wire-frame CAD model.

28

Pakistansurvey. Rectified photography has been used to map
the condition of external and internal elevations of themonument and was later converted into vector form.
INVESTIGATIONS AND CONSERVATION OF MAINENTRANCE LOGGIA
Primarily, the data in form of CAD drawings producedwith the help of EDM survey has been used as basedrawings which lead us to study the monument in
depth and later its restoration and adaptation for reuse.
Secondly, the data was key to identifying and studying
the dilapidated parts of the monument. Total station has
been extensively used during the investigations of thestructure of the main entrance loggia of the palace. The
abnormal tilt and the subsidence recorded with the helpof EDM survey of the loggia at the floor level of level1 revealed that this part of loggia was not structurally
connected with the main building of the palace. The
investigations showed a tilt of 14 cm and subsidenceof 8 cm in the structure. Based on other such structuralconnections in the palace, the intervention proposal
was implemented. A new connection and additional
wooden beams were proposed. In order to remove thetilt and subsidence in the structure, hydraulic jacks andturning buckles were used. The process of lifting andpulling back of the structure to a satisfactory position wasclosely monitored with the help of total station and allied
software. The project is now in its advanced stage ofcompletion and will be partially operational as “Heritage
Residence and Museum” by the end of this year.
REFRENCES
Almagro, A., 2007. Traditional drawings versus new
representation techniques. In: CIPA XX! International
Symposium of Architectural Photogrammetry. 01-06
October 2007, Athens, Greece.
Bianca, Stefano, 2005. Karakoram: Hidden Treasures in
the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Umberto Allemandi & C.
for The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Torino.
Muhammad, Salman, 2006. Conservation and adaptive
reuse of Khaplu Palace. Thesis Report, RLICC Katholike
University, Leuven, Belgium.

Fig. 6 & 7. This set of drawings shows the structure and location of timber elements in the plan and section drawings. Additionally, the sectional
drawing shows the total extent of subsidence and bulge in the structure

Fig. 8 & 9. This set of drawings shows the proposed interventions to restore the loggia structure

29

PakistanFig. 10. Traditional construction
techniques are being implemented
during the restoration of loggia

Fig. 11. Lifting and pulling backthe loggia to a stable state is
being closely monitored with total
stationFig. 12. Lifting of loggia to astable state with the help of
hydraulic jacks

Fig. 13. Turning buckles arebeing used to pull back the tilted
loggiaFig. 14. North façade of Khaplu Palace. The wooden entrance loggia at the centre was the subject of major conservation
activity in 2008. This restoration is very closely monitored with total station.

Fig. 15. Cross section at AA of Khaplu Palace. Rectiﬁed images were used extensively to
document the features and damages of the monument. The abnormal tilt and subsidence
in the entrance loggia at left is clearly visible.

30Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea

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RE PORT

The Revival and Maintenance of the Eharo Masks in Papua New Guinea
Naomi Faik Simet, Dance Researcher
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies

Mask cultures in Papua New Guinea (PNG) continue
to gain recognition for their role in preserving andmaintaining a society’s cultural heritage. The intangible
and tangible forms of masks depict the oral history andbeliefs of a particular clan or tribe.
In the Gulf province of PNG, the Eharo masks wererevived in 2005 after so many years of non appearance.
This was the result of the masks being destroyed byearly missionaries in the 1900’s. Although this situation
hindered the status of these masks, the knowledge still
remained in the minds of the elderly people. Given this
scenario, the PNG Government through the National
Cultural Commission carried out preliminary research on
the eharo masks in 2004 in Toare and the neighboringvillages thus initiated the first Toare Mini-mask festival
in 2005. The aim of the festival was solely to revive theeharo masks which was a success at the end. Following
this, the festival has been marked an annual event andhas been staged for six years now since its inception in
2004.
The Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies (IPNGS) as
part of its main function to record and document thediverse traditions of PNG also carried out research on thetype of dances associated with these masks. This study
was conducted in 2005 during the first staging of theToare Mini-mask festival. During the course of the study,
it was discovered that although dance performances isconcerned with the intangible cultural heritage of thelocal people, the eharo masks are the tangible forms
that encompasses a society’s beliefs and traditional
knowledge systems. For instance, in 2008 IPNGS staff
returned to Toare village to carry out in-depth researchon eleven traditional dance groups associated with theeharo masks. These dance groups were part of the 4th
Mini-Mask festival staged in Toare village. Performancesof these dance groups were captured on video, audio
tapes and still cameras. Documentation of the dances
also focused on the costumes, masks, body decoration,and traditional musical instruments. Other information
included name of the dance, dance movement, category/genre, choreographer, composer, owner, culture/language
group and brief history. These are the basic information
required to document a particular dance associated withthe eharo mask. Comparing this information to the initialﬁndings in 2005, it was discovered that the local people
were much aware of the importance of maintaining theseeharo masks for their future generations. The 6th Minimask festival was another success event which attracted
eleven exquisite masks associated with songs and dances.
The festival featured participants from thirteen villages
along the eastern coastline of PNG.
The government of PNG through the National Cultural
Commission continues to assist these cultural festivals toenable sustainability and continuity of these intangible
and tangible cultural forms. Festivals associated withmask cultures are currently promoted in the country
with increasing interest from performing groups and thegeneral public alike. The challenge faced now is theconstant change with time and space on these culturalforms.

The Eharo mask performance during the 4th Mini-mask festival in Toare village in 2008, Gulf province of Papua New Guinea.

31

Sri Lanka
R E P ORT

Wayamba Cultural Quadrangle, Sri Lanka: Research, Excavation, Conservation and Presentation
Sujeeva Kaushalyani Peiris Deraniyagala, Conservation Supervisor
Central Cultural FundWayamba Quadrangle Project in the North Western
Province of the island is initiated by the Central CulturalFund to conserve and present the long forgotten historic
structures within the area bounded by four ancient
kingdoms; Yapahuwa, Dambadeniya, Kurunegala andPanduvasnuvara.
North Western Province of Sri Lanka mainly comprisesof low plains and isolated hillocks with dry climate. The
region has a long history and it is believed that the ﬁrst
Aryans from India – Prince Vijaya and his troop, arrived
at Tammenna on North Western coast on the day of
Buddha’s Parinirvana [death] in the 6th century B.C. Hence
this region could be considered as the cradle of Sinhalesecivilization that fostered it to be one of the oldest in theSouth Asian region. Two kings, King Vijaya (550-512 B.C.)
and King Panduvasdev (514-474 B.C.), reigned the region
until the 4th century and King Pandukabhya shifted the
kingdom to Anuradhapura. Since then Anuradhapura
outshone Tammenna and became the most significant
area for development and the focal point of Island’s
history till its downfall in the middle of the 10th century.
With shifting of kingdoms towards the west of theisland after medieval period the region again came into

Sri Lanka

ACCU

limelight with Panduvasnuwara becoming the capital of
the island for a very short period during 12th century.
King Parakramabahu setup this capital as an alternative
to Polonnaruva and fought with Indians and broughtback the Sacred Tooth Relic from India. Most visible
ruin within this 20 hectare un-explored ancient site is
the 6 meter wide moat, rampart walls that remain here
and there and some ancient ruined temple buildings.
Then Dambadeniya was selected as the capital in themid 13th century (A.D.1230-1270) by King Vijayabahu
III because Polonnaruva was beleaguered with repeatedinvasions. Dambadeniya was built on a hillock withfortifications secured by a moat. During the reignof King Parakramabahu (A.D.1236-1270), it reachedzenith of glory. King Buvanekabahu I (A.D.1272-1284)
selected Yapahuwa as the capital in A.D.1273, building
a palace and a temple which housed the famous tooth
relic for 11 years. Yapahuwa like Sigiriya, is a massive
granite outcrop, set in a shady location, and rising 100
m above the plains below. Remnants of this palace,
fortress and ancient battle defenses can still be seen,
while an ornamental stair way is its biggest showpiece.
It is believed that this site might have been a Buddhist
monastery like Sigiriya before it became the capital.
Remains of a stupa, a Buddha tree enclosure, and a rockshelter/cave provide evidences for this assumption. There
have been subsequent developments even after it ceased
to be the capital. The last of the North Western capitals is
Kurunegala, which became the capital in A.D.1293 during
the reign of King Buvaknekabahu II and lasted for 50
years.
When considering archaeological research, excavationand conservation of monuments and sites, North
Western Province of Sri Lanka was rather neglected tillrecently. This is mainly because the presence of more
historically and architecturally important monuments inthe ancient cities in North Central and Central Provinces.
Anuradhapura, Polonnaruva, Sigiriya, Dambulla andKandy had drawn attention of every major conservation
drive carried out until now. These ancient and medieval
cities were also the focus of famous “UNESCO – Sri Lanka
Cultural Triangle”, which completed in 1997.
The significance of ancient structures within the North
Western Province [“Wayamba” in Sinhalese] was
beginning to grow recently as the conservation andrestoration of monuments and sites within ancient cities
were nearing completion. The project period is eight
years divided into two phases. Total estimated costof carrying out exploration, archaeological research
excavation, conservation, landscaping, improving tourist
facilities and preserving intangible cultural assets within

32

Sri Lanka

333

the area Rs. 2,151.36 million (Rs. 908.79million for thePhase I and Rs. 1,242.57 million for Phase II).
Through long neglect and ignorance, the region has lost
most of its historic structures and few scattered remains offour royal enclosures were also poorly treated. Few major
structures like the famous stair way of Yapahuwa wereconserved by the Department of Archaeology during
the 1970’s. Apart from these main centres, large numberof ancient temples, settlements and irrigation schemes
were also present. Most temples had mural paintings
with vibrant colours, which was a strong evidence ofthe Kandyan Period. Technology, form and construction
materials of these structures mainly depended upon
the environmental conditions of the area and the social
status of the patrons. If they were inﬂuential and rich, thestructures were more elaborate, built with more durable
materials like granite or limestone but mostly the story
was otherwise. After decline of royal patronage thesetemples also lost their importance and so slowly slipped
into neglect.
Through the Wayamba Quarangle Project, the Central
Cultural Fund is looking forward to restore the ancient
glory of these historic structures and ancient sites
opening another forgotten vista of the Sri Lankan history
and to build awareness against the impact of negligenceon historic structures. Another scope is to develop
infrastructure facilities in the sites, establish information
centres and museums to disseminate new informationand encourage researchers and scholars to study theregion and its historicity to bring back its due respect.

Ancient walls at Panduvasnuvara

Dambadeniya rock

Gomadiyagala temple, Yapahuwa zone

Image House, Pandurasnuvara Vihara

Image House, Wadakahagala temple, Yapahuwa zone

Yaphuwa stairway

Thailand
R E P ORTTechnical Workshop on the Preparation of the World Cultural Heritage Nomination and Periodic Reporting
Wirayar Chamnanpol, Computer Technical Ofﬁcer
Ofﬁce of Archaeology, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture

In early 2010, the Asia-Paciﬁc member states of UNESCO
Convention Concerning the Protection of the World
Cultural and Natural Heritage periodically reported on theworld cultural heritage to the World Heritage Centre for thesecond period. For the ﬁrst period, the Asia-Paciﬁc reportfocused on conservation of the world cultural heritage andan understanding of Outstanding Universal Values as wellas the assessment of conditions and conservation. The
World Cultural Heritage Center thereafter campaigned withthe members in Asia-Paciﬁc region to conduct the national
preparation of World Cultural Heritage nomination andperiodic reporting. The Centre also requested the members
to update their tentative lists of world cultural heritage.
In June 2010, Fine Arts Department’s Ofﬁce of Archaeology
in collaboration with UNESCO Bangkok successfullyorganized a five-day technical workshop on “thePreparation of the World Cultural Heritage Nomination
and Periodic Reporting” for Thai staff of the Archaeology
Office and participants from Lao P.D.R., Burma andMalaysia. The workshop anticipated the state members’
readiness in preparing the world cultural heritage
nomination and periodic reporting. Furthermore, workshop
participants can develop and enhance their skills andknowledge on the Convention Concerning Protection ofGroup Photo, Phuphrabat historical park

Lecture session

ThailandACCU

the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Principles andprocedures for nomination and periodic reporting. It wasalso a learning opportunity for participants from different
counties to exchange knowledge and experiences on theworld cultural heritage management.
Several experts including Dr Richard A. Engelhardt, Charge
de Mission and Senior Advisor of UNESCO; Dr. Gamini
Wijesuriya from ICCROM; Mr Ricacado Favis, and Ms
Montira Horayangura from UNESCO Bangkok; and Mr
Yongtanit Pimonsathean from ICOMOS Thailand, madepresentations at the workshop on the following specificissues:・The World Heritage Convention: Purpose and Process ofthe World Heritage List;
・Identifying and Safeguarding Outstanding Universal
Value;
・Constructing Values-Based Management Plans and their
Implementation;・Public Participation in World Heritage;
・Periodic Reporting (PR) Process; and,・Retrospective inventories, timetable for submission of all
required documents, and action plan by each country
for follow up step.

Group work participation of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

Baan Chiang pottery at Baan
Chiang National Museum

Group work participation

34

Thailand

The workshop facilitated discussions on case studies ofWorld Heritage sites of the four Southeast Asian countries,
namely Thailand, Lao P.D.R., Burma and Malaysia. Sitevisits to Phuphrabat historical park and Baan Chiang
National Museum was good for better understanding andBaan Chaing Archaeological Site35

strengthening knowledge on the World Cultural Heritage
shown in the case studies. The group work was alsointeresting in which experiences from different countries
were shared and consolidated.

Site Visits to Phuphrabat historical park,
Rock shelters

Group work participation of Malaysia

Group discussion of Burma

Mr Ricacado Favis, and Ms.Montira Horayangura from UNESCO Bangkok
Lecture on Retrospective inventories, timetable for submission of all
required documents

Participants from Malaysia and Burma at site visits to Baan Chiang

Thailand

Site visits to Phuphrabat historical park

Malaysia group work with Dr. Richard A. Engelhardt from UNESCO

Site Visits to Phuphrabat historical park, Sema stones

Lao P.D.R. group work with Ms. Montira Horayangura from UNESCO Bangkok

Group photo, Baan Chiang National Museum

36

Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan

ACCU

RE PORT

Methods of Restoration and Drawing of Artefacts: An Example of Glazed Objects
Akmaljon Ulmasov, Researcher
Fine Arts Scientiﬁc Research Institute, Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan

Introduction
Restoration of archaeological artefacts is importantso as to reconstruct the original forms of the objects,
whereas measured drawing is useful for documentationand publications and first of all, both of them help tounderstand characteristic features in detail, not obtainablefrom photography. Restoration methods are numerous
and various in practice. Although there are many
restoration methods and drawing methods for tangible
cultural properties, we are only familiar with methods
commonly utilized in our working process.
1. Restoration of glazed objects
The short description of objects and visual research
During the visual observation, all defects in given
objects were revealed and recorded. The first object
was a glazed bowl (size: 7.5 cm in height and 22 cm indiameter), decorated with the primitive pattern similar to
those on Arabian manuscript and a double thin strip ofblack colour. The bowl remained only one-fourth of theoriginal form: a part of wall with a nimbus and the whole
bottom. It seemed possible to restore the whole object
from those sherds. On the internal surface and along
the edges of seams, the glazed parts exfoliated. On theexternal surface, dust pollution was observed (ﬁg. 1).
The second object was a glazed jug (size: 15.5 cm inheight and 7 cm in diameter); a spherical body with along neck, slightly bent rim and a massive bottom (fig.
2). On the light yellow-green background, imaged frames
from two wide strips on the blue-emerald colour (on theneck and in the middle of jug) were drawn and verticalleaf-form patterns were painted in black colour. The rim(nimbus) and the handle only partially remained andone-third of a body was missing which has been stuck
together from several fragments. But, it is necessary to
notice that past repair work wasn’t made professionallyand fragments had not been joined properly to produce
open cracks on the surface.
Last object was a miniature pedestal (size: 7 cm in height;
12.5 cm in width; 17.5 cm in length), which was similar
to the form of a national local table, “Hontakhta” (fig.
3). The top of the object was painted with the vegetative
ornament, a tulip growing from a massive vase withnumerous petals. On the side legs, big tulips werepainted in dark blue colour. The object consisted of two
fragments, and one-fourth parts had not remained.

sculptural plastic (plasticine2), was used to mould themissing parts, which was more elastic and held theform well than plaster or wax. However, now in foreigncountries, synthetic polymers such as Vekcent, Cealast
and Tiodent, are widely applied as forming paste(solution), which is beyond our reach.
Filling in the the lost fragments and absent parts was
carried by using plaster-gesso (CaSo4+2H2O), an
accessible and durable material. To increase mechanicaldurability and moisture resistance, polymeric water
dispersions were add in it. The most accessible andwidely used in restoration is PVA (polyvinyl acetate),
which is called as gesso-polymer.
On the first object (the glazed bowl), restoration wasmade by a usual method. After moulding (in uzbek.
kolip) with forming paste of soft plasticity, a liquid
plaster solution was ﬁlled into the missing parts or where
fragments were lost. Then, it was dried under natural
conditions and the mould was removed. The restoration
process was carried out stage by stage and by parts..
The second object (the jug) had lost the top part andthe handle, so another restoration method was applied.
At first, a rim and the whole handle was made fromceramic moulding clay and joined to the jug. After drying,plasticine was applied.
On the last object (the pedestal), the shape was mouldedfrom both parts (outside and inside) and the missing
parts were filled with plaster liquid solution. After theplaster dried, a surface of the pedestal was levelled andsmoothed with an emery paper.
The final stage of restoration work was drawing
decoratively on the filled parts. In practice this method
more often is called “toning” (painting). Drawing adecorative covering on the restored surface was made in
two ways: toning by water-soluble paints and in priming
paste (solution).
Toning (painting) by water-soluble paints
The water-soluble paints include a water colour, adistemper, acrylic paint, etc. They basically are used forthe painted subjects. They are easy to choose proper
colours and can be easily removed from a surface in caseof ageing or not appropriate.
1

Restoration process of objects
Based on visual observation research, restoration
methods were chosen depending on the sizes of losses
and character of damage. The traditional mask material,

37

Objects are stored in a collection of Fine Arts Institute of Academy of
Sciences of Uzbekistan
2
Plasticine (ital. plastilina, from Greece. plastos - modelled) is a material
for moulding. It is produced from the cleared and crushed powder ofclay with addition of wax, fat and other substances interfering drying.
It is painted in various colours and used for sketches, small models andproducts of small forms.

2. Drawing of restored objects
Drawing of archaeological artefacts is difficult because
they are different in material (clay, metal, a bone oretc.), condition and age. For example, stone objects
are usually drawn by “linear” (the conditional name)while iron objects and terracotta ﬁgurines are drawn in“dotting” ways. For pottery, “outline” style is basicallyused. Linear and dotting style transfers volume and thematerial subject, while the outline style displays necessarylines well which are important for showing traces ofmanufacturing techniques of subject, ornaments, stamps,
masks and so on. Sometimes, it is difﬁcult to understandthose characteristics by photographs, because of several
factors such as distortion at photographing. In any
case, the measured drawing is an useful measure forrepresentation of those characteristic features which are
inherent to artefacts.

Without listing all drawing styles, we will stop on one of
the methods which are used in educational process ofsubject “Drawing” to the artist-restorer.
♦ At first, the object is drawn on a special graphpaper with views of different sides: the “top view” or“projective method” (it is shown conditions of object
before restoration); “section” (the object is divided into
two parts: the external part is shown at the left and rightand an internal part with a section) and an “axonometricprojection” (ﬁg. 1 a, b, c, d.). The scale of 1:1 is desirable,
but the scale can be reduced for the bigger sized object;Uzbekistan

Toning in priming pastes
These pastes are waterproof, which provide good afﬁnity
with a surface of the filled fragment. Quality extendercan be used: dry titanic whitewash, talc, marble andporcelain powder, a ceramic crumb, etc. For colouring,the dry crushed pigments are used to add various shades
in pastes. With all these additives, the object appears toimitate the original in colour and in material.

♦ The drawing is copied on a transparent paper (tracing
paper) and transferred on tablet in the size of 50 х 70
cm (with the stretched paper). Thus it is necessary toconsider correct arrangement of the drawing with views
from the different sides.
♦ The transferred drawings “are washed” by solution
made of the black hulk with water (in various
concentration). Washings up are made stage by stage
before revealing of the form and subject volume.
Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that light falls on
object 45 ° at the left from above at washing up.
♦ After washing up the drawing, the paint with the sameway is made as “washings up”. Removing the material
from the glazed surface of an object, it will be painted
by paint with sugar added to give glossy shine to thedrawing.
♦ A view of “section” is in left on graphic, only lines are
led round black by ink;

A glazed bowl (Middle Ages)a) view from up (before restoration) b) view from up (after restoration)c) Section (left half-outside, right half-in side) d) Axonometric projection. Measure 1:1.

A miniature pedestal

A glazed jug

38Uzbekistan♦ At the last stage for the project, the data is recorded:
the name (from above in the middle), a site and a date(below at the left), and an explication and about theauthor of the drawing (the lower right corner).
Conclusion
As mentioned before, restoration and drawing areimportant to document artefacts. If the restored subjects
are given durability and the second life in expositions,they can serve for the public. After restoration works, allobjects have been displayed in an exposition.
There are various restoration methods in the world
depending on characters and situation of objects. We
have only acquainted with one of methods used in our
educational process, which should be developed andimproved further in the future. We would like to shareyour experiences in the ﬁeld of restoration and drawingof artefacts, and wait for your comments and suggestions
sent to my e-mail address at a_ulmasov@yahoo.com.

39

Note:
- Photographs by Akmaljon Ulmasov- Restoration and drawing of artifacts were done by
students of “Restoration Department” of National Instituteof Art & Design under the guidance of an author of thisreport.
Literatures Cited:
1. Restoration Museum’s Ceramics. Methodical
Recommendation, L. Andreeva, A.Antonyan., T.Barabanov
and etc. Moscow, 1999, p.145. (in Russian. Ɋɟɫɬɚɜɪɚɰɢɹ
ɦɭɡɟɣɧɨɣɤɟɪɚɦɢɤɢɆɟɬɨɞɢɱɟɫɤɢɟɪɟɤɨɦɟɧɞɚɰɢɢ
ɅɇȺɧɞɪɟɟɜɚȺɋȺɧɬɨɧɹɧɌɂȻɚɪɚɛɚɧɨɜɚɢɞɪ±Ɇ
ȼɏɇɊɐɢɦɚɤɚɞɟɦɢɤɚɂɗȽɪɚɛɚɪɹɫɬɪ145).
2. Method of Drawing Archaeological Artifacts, Toshiki
Nishiguchi, Megumi Jinno, NNRICP, Nara (translated to
Russian by Kobijaeva M.).

Viet NamR E P ORT

A Life Story of a Pottery* (or How the Archaeologists Repair a Pottery)
Nguyen Khanh Trung Kien, Laboratory Ofﬁcer
Center for Archaeological Studies, Southern Institute of Social Sciences

1. Introduction
I am just a vase and the archaeologists assigned me witha serial number 2010.HD.H3M5, which means I belong
to Hoa Diem site, H3 pit and burial number 5 in 2010
excavation. They found me at Hoa Diem site (Khanh Hoa
Province, Central Vietnam), and for two thousand years I
had been covered by a thick layer of soil in the seashore
of Central Vietnam.
In the past, I was a beautiful vase with the smoothly
curves and shell impressed decoration on the surfaceof my body. After my owner’s death, the other peopleburied me as one of grave goods near the jar burial ofhim. I could not see the sun shine from that time. Day
by day, my body cracked slowly because of the hightemperature and humidity of seaside environment and theweight of the soil layer upper. One day, I heard a soundof a pottery break and I felt my body broken and knew
my death was coming, thinking that I would never see
the sun light again.
For a very long time buried underground, I suddenly
woke up with many of human voices. They were happyand excited when they discovered me, and they cleaned
up my body carefully with brushes. My friends and I
were now exposed in the sunlight of the spring, andwere confronted face to face with the blue sky, smilingand thinking about the new life coming to us. But thearchaeologists were talking about their plans and thetreatment solutions to me and my friends. I realized that
this was the ﬁrst step of my rebirth I was waiting for along time.
2. The restoration work
They collected me carefully, removed all of my pieces
from the site into a box and stored me at the Khanh
Hoa Museum where I was kept for a few months in cooltemperature. It was the necessary time for my body’smaterial to be dry and to recover the hardness before.
One morning, I waked up and felt someone bringing
me out. I understood that they were doing their post-

Viet Nam

ACCU

excavation treatment. They opened my box, classiﬁed thepart of my body and wrote the serial number on eachpiece. Someone tried to ﬁx me one by one potsherd withglue. For a few days of restoration work, I felt my bodywith some parts ﬁxed. They reinforced inside of my bodywith a mesh tape and a thin layer of glue.
A half of the rim and some places were lost and it madesome gaps in my bottom, my shoulder, my neck…
In order to stabilize me for a long time display at themuseum in future, the archaeologist filled in my gaps
with plaster (a white powder mixed with water in use). A
paper frame was made as a molding inside for the plasterlayer. They used a small spool and some tools of dentist
to ﬁll plaster. They repaired my rim with the round shapeand the gaps on my body by ﬁlling in with plaster.
After a half of a day, when the plaster fully dried, they used
the scraper tool to trim my body. I became a beautiful
vase again. An archaeologist made documentation on mewith measured drawing, taking photographs and writing
information about me, so I had a completed proﬁle withall information.
3. A new life
After the restoration work of the archaeologist ﬁnished,
I have a new life in the museum. My place will be in
exhibition room, near my friends. Visitors can see me;
researchers can make their documentation on me; andstudents can learn about the history of me and feel theglory of an ancient culture around 2,000 years ago in Viet
Nam. I spent a long time of my ﬁrst life underground andI hope my second life in this museum will be longer andsafer than before.
Note:* written by Nguyen Khanh Trung Kien, an archaeologist,
who is a member of Vietnam –Japan team excavated the
Hoa Diem site. He also did the restoration work for thisartifact and trying to put himself into the life of that vaseand tell the other people about its story.

40

Viet Nam
Many pieces of potsherd became one.

Measured drawing for documentation

Ready for display in the museum

41

Reinforced with a mesh tape and glue

Filling in the gaps with plaster

Other members of my family after restoration

Sri Lanka /Indonesia

Thailand / Uzbekistan / Viet Nam/ Malaysia /Mongolia / Nepal

Uzbekistan

ACCU‒ Young Specialists Who Made Noteworthy Achievements Have Been Awarded ‒R E P ORT

Uzbekistan

Special Report

The Incentive Award of Ikuo Hirayama in Archaeology
Akmaljon Ulmasov, Researcher
Fine Arts Scientiﬁc Research Institute, Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan

On 15 June 2010, the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan
has hosted the ceremony of awarding an incentive prizeof Ikuo Hirayama* in the field of archeology at theInternational Caravanserai of Culture (ICC).
Among those awarded were a group of young Japanesescientists/archeologists of Soka University (Tokyo)
under the direction of professor Mitsuru Koyama who
participated the excavation of a world famous site ofancient settlement of Dalvarzintepa (in the south of
Uzbekistan), the ﬁrst capital of Kushan Empire; a French
researcher of College de France (Paris), Katia Juhel who
participated in excavation of an ancient monument of
Chingiztepa in Old Termez, under the direction of thewell-known scientist, Dr. Pierre Lerisha; and two theirUzbek colleagues Otabek Aripdzhanov from the Museumof History of Uzbekistan and Bahodir Madaminov fromICC (Tashkent).

Hirayama; a thick rectangular glass plate, a part of apicture of this artist with the image of a camel against
sandy barchans (ɛɚɪɯɚɧɵ); and the card of the GreatSilk Road strengthened on a pedestal from a natural
ornamental stone of dark color; and the diploma witha valuable prize, was awarded to the young experts
who have brought great contribution to developmentof archeology in its scientific, theoretical and practicalspheres.

Note:
Ikuo Hirayama* (15 June 1930 - 2 December 2009)
A world-known artist, an outstanding researcher, thefounder of the Great Silk Road Fund, Museum of Eastern
Cultures in Tokyo, and the Fund for Protect Monumentsof Culture and History in Afghanistan.
Credits for Photographs: Mr S. Kurbanov

The awarding ceremony was attended by Tsutomu
Hiraoka, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan in
Uzbekistan, Tursunali Kuziev, Chairman of Academy ofArts of Uzbekistan, scientists, creative public and thepress.

Reference materials:
http://www.ut.uz
http://caravanserai.uz/index.html

The prize aimed at encouraging young archeologists andhistorians to study, revive and popularize centuries-old
traditions of the Great Silk Road. That can be the way of
inducing new generation of specialists to more profoundresearch of unique aspects of the rich cultural heritageof the world civilization and new scientific discoveries.
Young specialists from various countries actively
participated in archeological explorations, restoration andconservation of cultural heritage of the countries of theGreat Silk Road have been annually awarded with thisprize.
This award including a medal with a portrait of Ikuo
International Caravanserai of Culture (Photograph by ACCU Nara)

T.Kuziev, Chairman of Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan,hands over Award of Ikuo Hirayama to Soka University
through Ambassador of Japan in Uzbekistan Mr.
Hiraoka.

The moment of award acceptance

The young specialist B.
Madaminov receives Award of
Ikuo Hirayama.

44

Cambodia

Special Report

Cambodia

ACCU

Visakh Bochea Day Celebration and the Royal Ploughing Ceremony

RE PORT

Srun Teck, Archaeologist, Archaeological Preventive Unit, Department of Conservation of
Monuments in the Angkor Park and Preventive Archaeology, APSARA Authority

1．A Great Buddhistic event was taken place in Angkor
Archaeological Park, Visakh Bochea Day
Visakh Bochea Day has been celebrated in many
Buddhist countries in order to commemorate andremember the biography of Buddha, from his birththrough achieving enlightenment to attaining nirvana.
In Cambodia, we always celebrate this ceremony every
year in all Buddhist monasteries especially at udong
mountain, located in Kandal procince, where the boneof Buddha is kept in the huge stupa. Last three years
from 2007 to 2009, Visakh Bochea Day was celebrated at
Borobudur temple, Indonesia. This year was the fourthyear of that big event; the Kingdom of Cambodia hosted
Visakh Bochea Day on 27 to 29 April at Bayon temple,
Siem Reap province. There participated 14 countries:
Lao P.D.R., Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore,
India, China, South Korea and Czech Republic.
It was a full moon day on 28 April 2010 in lunar calendar
and also the same day of Buddha’s birthday, achieving
enlightenment and attaining nirvana. In the morning of 28
April, crowds of people prepared food, water and moneyfor offering to 2,554 Buddhist monks (2,554 in Buddhist
Era equals to A.D.2010). The significant celebration
events were performed by artistic performance groups
from Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Thai, Myanmar, Indonesia
and India in every evening of three days.
2．The Royal Ploughing Ceremony was taken place at theRoyal Plaza, Angkor Thom CityThe Royal Ploughing Ceremony is one of the importantroyal traditions of annual royal ceremonies. Each king has
always led the celebration from ancient times until now.
The ceremony is celebrated to encourage power andGeneral view of Visakh Bochea Day in the morning on 28 April

45

happiness in the planting of the rice-crop and to pray tomighty spirits for sufficient seasonal rainfall, which canhelp all agricultural sectors to achieve high yields. This
year the Royal Ploughing Ceremony was held on May 02,
2010 and ofﬁcially presided over by His Majesty Samdech
Preah Borom Neath Norodom Sihamoni, King of theKingdom of Cambodia.
The agriculture season commences after the Royal
Ploughing Ceremony, which is conducted by the Kingor his representative. In the ceremony, his representative“Sdech Meak” is responsible for operating the plow andhis representative’s wife “Preah Mehuo”, assigned as thewife of Sdech Meak, is responsible for sowing the riceseed.
The royal oxen are the king’s royal domestic animals,
which are in dark brown color and there are cattle-raisers
who take care of and keep them for this purpose every
year. The royal oxen that are hitched to a wooden plow
are offered food and drink. There are seven types of foodthat have been prepared on the large silver plates in frontof the royal tent: a tray of rice seed, beans, corn, sesame,
fresh-cut grass, water and wine.
After chanting, the Brahman royal master brings holywater to spray on the heads of the two royal oxen and anofﬁcial, who holds the plow of Sdech Meak, and guides
the two royal oxen to eat and drink those seven typesof food. He guides them near those seven types of foodand lets the royal oxen eat and drink whatever they wish;
they are not force to any of the foods. If the royal oxen
eat one or two types, the soothsayer foretells the futureaccordingly and the prediction is not really accurate. If
the royal oxen eat a particular food, the prediction saysthat this type of thing will be bountiful. If the fresh-cut
grass is eaten, it predicts the outbreak of cattle diseases. If

Local villagers and national guests, oﬀering food and money to Buddhistmonks

Cambodia

the wine is drunk, there will be many bad people, thieves
and robbers.
After that Sdech Meak and Mehuo pray to the statue inthe east center booth, the “Preah Kachayanak Statue”,
the wise persons come to blow the conch, and the royalmaster brings holy water to pray on both persons, thenblesses them and everyone good wishes, happiness andprosperity and the royal ploughing ceremony comes toconclusion.

Pilgrimʼs journey of Buddhist monks surrounding Bayon temple in theevening of 28 April

General view to the delegation platform

Sdech Meak operated the plow.

Preah Mehuo sowed the rice seed.

The two loyal oxen were eating food.

46

Published by
Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office,Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Nara Prefectural Government “Horen” Office 1F
757 Horen-cho, Nara 630-8113 Japan
Tel: +81-742-20-5001
Fax: +81-742-20-5701
E-mail: nara@accu.or.jp
URL: http://www.nara.accu.or.jp© Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office,Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) 2010