Banglade s h / I n d i a / I ndonesia / Malaysia / Maldives

ACCU Nara
International Correspondent

The Eleventh Regular Report
公益財団法人ユネスコ・アジア文化センター文化遺産保護協力事務所

Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office, Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)

Mongolia / Nepal / New Zealand

The Eleventh Regular ReportACCU Nara International Correspondent
The ACCU correspondents periodically send reports on cultural heritage protection activities in which they have been
recently involved. This is a collection of sixteen reports submitted by international correspondents in the Asia-Pacificregion.

The Eleventh Regular Report
Contents
Bangladesh

1

India

2

Indonesia (1)6Indonesia (2)8Malaysia

12

Maldives

15

Mongolia

17

Nepal

22

Mst. Naheed Sultana
The Stone Image of Gautama Buddha Discovered at Boro Tangra Dhap and our Updated Research

Kunkuma Devi Kishore
Osmania University Women’s College (Former British Residency Complex), Hyderabad: An Analysis of
the Traditional Madras Terrace Roof System

Mohammad Natsir Ridwan Muslim
A Survey of Underwater Archaeology

Indah Sulistiana Kuncoro
Documentation on Reroofing Tradition in Kabuyutan Trusmi, Cirebon

A Ghafar Bin Ahmad
Restoration of the Alwi Mosque, Kngar, Perlis, Malaysia

Aishatha Moosa Fikree
Coral Carvings of Maldives

Rinchinkhorol Munkhtulga
Some Newly Found Medieval Burials from Northern Mongolia

Suresh Suras Shrestha
Restoration of Pratappur Temple in Swayambhu Protected Monument Zone

New Zealand25

Pakistan

34

Philippines

39

Samoa

41

Sri Lanka

43

Thailand47

Uzbekistan

51

Viet Nam

53

Matthew Schmidt
Project Njord : Investigation and Protection of the 1926-1932 Norwegian Whalers’ Base, Price’s Inlet, Rakiura/
Stewart Island

Muhammad Aasim Dogar
Conservation of Archaeological Remains at Harappa: Problems, Methods and Suggestions

Grace Barretto-Tesoro
The Artefact Storage Room at the Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines

Mainifo Viliamu
The Eleventh South Pacific Art Festival in the Solomon Islands

Sujeeva Kaushalyani Peiris Deraniyagala
Conservation of Vernacular Buildings and its Impact on Cultural Tourism with Special Reference toConservation of Dwelling House in Meemure Village, Kandy District, Sri Lanka

Pongthorn Hiengkaew
Essence and Interpretation of Historic Building Decorations: A Case Study of Shrine Area in Wat Borom
Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara

Akmaljon Ulmasov
Field Conservation Experience in Buddhist Site of Karatepa in 2012

Nguyen Chi Cong
The 47th Archaeology Conference 2012 in Hanoi

Bangladesh
Bangladesh

The Stone Image of Gautama Buddha Discovered at Boro Tangra Dhap and ourUpdated Research
Mst. Naheed Sultana, Assistant Director
Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs
Pundranagor, the most ancient capital of Bangal issituated in the northern region of Bangladesh. Though
Pundranagor is now known as Mahasthan at the Bogra
district, it was historically the capital city of ancient
Pundrabardhan Vukti. At that time, mighty river Karotoa
was flowing in the east and the city covered an area
about 15 km towards south, west and north in theoutside area of this city. In out-skirts of the city, Buddhist
monasteries, stupas and temples have been found fromarchaeological excavations. Such numerable and valuable
treasures of artifacts are still lying scattered and hidden
under the mounds of this vast area. Archaeologicalexcavations were carried out only in a few mounds, but alarge number of invariable artifacts have been discovered,
which have played a very important role in finding out
the ancient history in this region of 2,500 years ago.
Many valuable artifacts were found not only througharchaeological excavations, but also by either ploughing
land, excavating tanks and some are from erosionof soil during the rainy seasons. Such precious sandstone images of standing Buddha were discoveredfrom the cultural mound of Boro Tangra Dhap lying
10 km away from the Mahasthangarh. The village ofBoro Tangra is situated close to an ancient moundwhere no archaeological excavation has yet been
carried out. In the year 1994, the land owner of Boro
Tangra found the stone image of Buddha while cutting
earth for tilling or cultivation, and he reported it to the
Department of Archaeology. The then custodian ofMahasthan archaeological museum collected this image
for preservation. The image was made of sand stone
and measures in 1.10 m in length, 58 cm in breadth and
20 cm in thickness. The most important characteristic of
this image was that Lord Gautama Buddha was engravedon the both sides of the sand stone plate in a standing
position, which was justly a unique and rare in the image
so far collected in Bangladesh.

Bengal in 606 A.D. He was the very conservative Hindu
king and he died in 637 A.D. From that time, unregulateddisorder scattered in the entire Bengal, which continued
to the end of 750 A.D. It is most probable that Buddha
image No. 1 was attacked by the followers of otherreligions at the time of the disorderliness and it lost hishead, a right hand and feet. At the same time Buddhist
people were derived away from Bengal.
The Buddhist religion underwent again extensive swingover in Bengal when Pala Raja (King) Gopala ascended
the throne in 750 A.D. Pala Dynasty ruled over the area
to the end of 12th century A.D. and they were followersof the Buddhist religion. Consequently, the Buddhist
followers returned back to Bengal and started theirreligious practices where the monasteries, temples andstupas were established long ago (4th-5th century A.D.).
In this situation, most probably the Buddhist monks
rescued the lord Buddha image No. 1 and opposite sideof this image, again they engraved a standing Buddha
image comparatively smaller from before one in 9th-10th
century A.D.
Bihar Dhap and Bhasu Bihar Buddhist archaeologicalsites are situated very near to the archaeological siteof Boro Tangra Dhap. Through the archaeologicalexcavations of Bihar Dhap and Bhasu Bihar, gigantic
monasteries, temples and huge datable precious artifactsof the Gupta and Pala period have been discovered. It is
proved that long after the destruction of the architectural
signs and symbols of the Gupta age, culture of Buddhism
again became prominent in the Pala age. Therefore, theBuddha image No.1 might have been worshipped during
the Gupta age (3rd century A.D.- 6th century A.D.) while
No.2 was worshipped during the Pala age (8th century
A.D.- 12th century A.D.).

Here designated in the two names for easy understanding:(1) Buddha image No.1
(2) Buddha image No.2
In the 3rd century B.C., Mauria Emperor Asoka the Great
built 84,000 monasteries, temples and stupas in the Indian
subcontinents after he became a follower of the Buddhist
religion. At the same time, Buddhist religion experienced
a period of instability in the Indian subcontinent, because
the Gupta Emperors (3rd century A.D. - 6th century
A.D.) were followers of the Hindu religion. In spite ofthat they were very tolerant to all religions. According to
the history, the Gupta Emperors didn’t interfere to otherreligions. As a result, Buddhist followers carried out theirreligious practices very peacefully and Buddha image No.
1 was probably made in the Gupta era. After the reignof Gupta, Raja (King) Shasanka ascended the throne of1

Standing Buddha (5th century
A.D.), Buddha image No.1

S t a n d i n g B u d d h a ( 9 t h -10 t h
century A.D.), Buddha image No.2

IndiaIndia

Osmania University Women’s College (Former British Residency Complex),
Hyderabad: An Analysis of the Traditional Madras Terrace Roof System
Kunkuma Devi Kishore, Architect & Conservation Consultant
Good Earth Office, Hyderabad, India
Introduction
The Hyderabad Residency was the house of British
Residents from the year 1808 to 1948 AD, built on thebanks of river Musi, on the land acquired from thePrincely State of the Nizams of Hyderabad signed in
the year 1800 AD and strategically located on the routeconnecting British Cantonment & the walled city ofHyderabad. The construction of this building led to amajor growth of the city with busy markets, trading &banking center. The Residencies of British India werepolitical offices, each managed by a Resident, which
dealt with the relations between British India and a large
number of princely states.
The building was built on the lines of Palladian villastarting from 1803 AD, and over time transformed itself
from the beautiful villa that housed James Kirkpatrick,a Resident who married a native Muslim woman Khairu
Nissa, to a full fledged Residency that was the seat of
all major decisions and their implementations relating to
the state of Hyderabad. The entire campus of about 42
acres has several heritage buildings associated with the
Resident’s functions mostly conceived and built at one
go. In the year 1963, the building began to be used asan educational campus for Women’s College of Osmania
University. Change in function caused a major revamp
in usage of different spaces and lack of maintenance ina channelized direction has caused varying degrees of
decay and deterioration. The building was included in the
100 most endangered buildings of the World by the WMF
Watch list in the year 2001 and ever since an integrated
initiative & sustained efforts towards its restoration has
been on although on a very slow pace.
The total area of the campus is about 48 acres with
about 18 acres of built up area constituting the Durbar
Hall block, Wings, Ancillary Blocks, Barracks, Bastions,Compound wall, Gateways, Gardens, Model, Cemeteryand remnants of the Zenana (female quarters). About
42 residents have occupied this Residency till 1947 AD,
making additions & alterations to it.
The sheer size of the heritage property and the volumeof study undertaken over the years make it difficult topresent even a summary of the same here. Therefore
this report specifically deals with the existing condition
analysis of one of the most widely used traditional roof
systems in South India and in the British Residency
complex and proposed viable solutions for its repair andrestoration - a study undertaken by the author and herteam in association with Ravi Gundu Rao & Associates,
Mysore.
What is Madras Terrace Roof?
Madras Terrace Roof is one of the earliest forms of
traditional flat roof system used widely in Southern India

especially Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
It constitutes of large wooden primary beams runningalong the shorter span of the room and wooden joists ofan approximate size of 15 cm × 10 cm size (or 15 cm ×7.5 cm) placed at a c/c distance of 30 cm perpendicular
to these beams and spanning them, together supporting
the entire flat roof above. Where primary beams are
not required due to short spans, these timber joists
are inserted within the wall with a gap left all aroundthe timber section edges to facilitate its expansion andcontraction and permit evaporation of trapped moistureand humidity. Such edges prevent an easy infestationof termites. A layer of ‘terrace bricks’ measuring 15 cm
× 7.5 cm × 2 cm approximately (may vary slightly with
regions but essentially thin bricks) are laid on edge inlime mortar along diagonal rows supported closely by
the wooden joists below. In some cases flat brick tiles arelaid above this layer to accommodate the lime concreteroof which predominantly acts as the water proofing layer
for the entire system. It is very important to drain theterrace rainwater by providing sufficient slopes and thisis achieved by laying brick bats and lime in the ratio 3:1
to required thickness and consolidated using a wooden
rammer. This layer is allowed to solidify and dry wellcarefully taking precautions to avoid cracks under intense
summer heat by covering it up with hay and sprinklingwater. For additional precaution flat square tiles
measuring 10 cm × 10 cm × 1 cm are laid in two layers inlime mortar and the whole is finished off in course lime
mortar as the final finish for the entire roof system. The
soffit of the ceiling is also finished off in course and fine
lime mortar to hide the diagonal bricks and give a clean
appearance.
Condition of Madras Terrace Roof in the British Residency
Complex
The oval room is the only major space in the entire
Durbar - Hall block where Madras Terrace roof still exists,
apart from the semi-circular east & west balconies. The
ancillary buildings however still witness an extensive
usage of Madras Terrace roof system. It is conjectured
from historic records and physical evidences that the
Madras Terrace roof in the rest of the rooms wereconverted to Jack arch roof in the late 19th century
perhaps.
The Madras terrace roof in the oval room is in a severely
deteriorated condition. Due to the deterioration in
the water proofing courses the bricks in the Madras
Terrace roof absorb water and retain within themselves
for prolonged periods thus weakening the lime mortar
bonds, causing cracks, & even detachment from one
another threatening to collapse. The seepage causes
supporting timber beams & joists to decay, warp, deflect,and discolor etc thus weakening it & causing a structural
failure. This failure shows itself evidently along the ceiling2

Indiaon western and eastern portions of the oval room, where
the ornamented thin sections of iron sheets have rusted
and detached themselves from the wooden rafters due
to falling of loose bricks/chunks of lime mortar etc on it.
During the monsoons and occasional summer showers,
these portions of the roof leak heavily and the wooden
floor below in turn gets damp, resulting in seepage ofwater through the same which has further caused the
dilapidation of the ceiling and flooring of the lower
ground floor also. The tar felt on the terrace level roofs
has never been a sensitive solution to arrest seepage ofwater. Uneven slopes, cracks and trapping of moisture
between layers add to the deterioration.
In the ancillary buildings like Physics and Chemistry
blocks addition of tar felt, deterioration of the water
proofing layers, improper terrace slopes and chokedrainwater down take pipes have caused damage to thewooden joists and beams below and thus weakening theentire roof system. A secondary cause for deteriorationof the Madras Terrace roof is the extensive termite
infestation which begins within the inner sections of thewood. The timber beams and joists weaken at the wallend sections and either start detaching from the wall
surfaces or lead to collapse of entire roof. A portion of
the roof has collapsed due to the above reasons in one of
the rooms, raising a major warning bell for the caretakers.
Though wooden joists/rafters and beams are in fairly
good condition externally, peeling off of soffit lime plasterleaving the terrace bricks exposed, discoloration on theceiling and walls due to rainwater seepage, vegetation
growth and root penetration, dislocation of wooden joists
along the wall edges etc are warnings for an impending
collapse or at least serious damage. Most of these rooms
have been evacuated and are awaiting restoration works.
It has also been noticed that another major reason for thedeterioration in the Madras Terrace roof is the variationin the c/ c distance between the timber joists. In the mostauthentic Madras Terrace roof the distance is maintained
as 30 cm. In the Old Physics block the distances varyfrom 30 cm c/c to 45 cm c/c. The size of the timber joists
also varies at the flange from a mere 5 cm to 15 cm. The
5 to 10 cm flanges cannot bear the entire load for longand perhaps have started giving away. 15 cm × 10 cm
joists perform better than thinner sections. Deflections
and horizontal cracks are seen on the primary beams insome rooms which are also major causes for failure of theroof.
Recommendations for Repair of Madras Terrace roof in the
British Residency Complex
All the tar felt and bitumen sheets in both the main
block and ancillary buildings should be removed topermit all the water to evaporate before undertaking any
waterproofing or restoration works. The waterproofing
should be re-laid in brick bat coba* and lime mortar
as per original with corrected slopes, vata*, coping forparapet wall, cleaned drain mouths and good quality
CI /handmade down take pipes, to prevent any kind ofwater logging. The same can be achieved for an area of
278 sq. m over the Durbar Hall roof, in a period of 1-1.5
and the same should be allowed to harden well under3

the summer sun. Redoing the waterproofing would be
sufficient to arrest seepage of water through the Madras
Terrace Roof and damage of the wooden beams andjoists.
The Madras Terrace roof can be restored in parts if thedeterioration is found to be in parts instead of redoing
the entire roof section. In the oval room of the main
block the pressed metal sheets have to be removed(which are entirely in a dilapidated condition due toconstant leakage of the roof and salvaging of any forreuse may not be possible) and every single wooden joist
and the two primary beams have to be inspected by anexperienced carpenter so as to chart out sequential andholistic methodology for reconstruction of the dilapidated
sections of the Madras Terrace roof. After the removal of
the pressed metal sheets, the wall edges along the entire
oval room have to be examined thoroughly. Where wall
plate may be found to be missing, stringer course ofbricks bound well in good quality lime mortar may beconstructed all around the oval room wall edge. A similar
detail exists above the first floor cantilevered walkway,along the corbelled art plaster cornice where lime plasterhas delaminated itself, in the Durbar Hall. A simple test
constituting raising a bamboo pole and striking against
the base of each of the wooden beam and joist should beundertaken to check for any hollowness, crumbling, delamination or powdering etc. of the wooden members.
The members to be replaced and/or repaired byrecycling should be well documented. Samples of timberfrom different components are to be sent for testing to
Dehradun lab to check for the species, origin, quality andoil content. An extensive anti-termite treatment has to beundertaken immediately and all those timber joists thatsound hollow should be replaced to arrest the failure ofentire roof.
For horizontal cracks on the wooden beams repairs canbe done by metal dumbbells of thickness up to 3” anda length of about 70% of the full depth of the beam canbe introduced at a calculated distance to arrest further
cracking. I-sections may be introduced between the wide
spacing of the secondary joists in the Madras Terrace roof.
Where the joists are deteriorated they should certainly be
replaced. Most of the wood based deterioration especiallyalong the ceiling level can be repaired by experienced
carpenters in the field of conservation who know
recycling of wood and the art of creating joineries andthrough basic structural interventions.
Notes*brick bat coba: well burnt and good quality bricks broken into small pieces ofrequired sizes*vata: given at 45 degrees angle along the junction of the flat terrace and thevertical parapet wall to prevent stagnation of rainwater along this junction. This is aweak point in historic buildings and water seepage is common.

IndiaA typical cross section of Madras Terrace Roof

View of a Madras Terrace Roof ceiling

Laying of terrace bricks diagonally and along the edge

Waterproofing using brick bat and lime to required slopes

The front Palladian facade of the British Residency

Plan showing the oval room ceiling in the main Durbar Hall block

Delamination of ceiling plaster and exposure of terrace bricks,
debonded joists and moisture laden primary wooden beam

A typical Madras Terrace Ceiling with primary beams and secondary
joists deteriorated due to water seepage and vegetation growth4

IndiaDeflection of primary beams and secondary joists as well as sheer
cracks can cause structural failures

Vegetation growth and penetration of its roots allows seepage of waterand debonds the joists from the ceiling

Where the primary timber beams have deteriorated beyond repair, I - beams of calculated
dimensions can be inserted. Variation in interspacing causes eccentric loading

Extensive termite infestation led to deterioration in the wooden joists
and eventual collapse of the roof

Where the edges of the wooden beams have deteriorated at the basewhere they rest on the wall plate/wall, a 1.8 cm thk. metal plate canbe introduced below the wooden beam as an additional bearing. It can
project out up to a length of 60 cm and go in up to a length of 45 cm.

Insertion of I-sections along the shorter span for additional support

A simple & effective propping of both the first & upper ground floors
have to be undertaken using casuarina poles spliced suitably toachieve required height, supporting the secondary timber joists andprimary beams, with neoprene padding on the top and gunny bagson the floor, before starting any repair works. Wooden ply shuttering
to be undertaken between joists to relay the bricks at angles, whererequired and to facilitate curing etc. during part reconstruction &total water proofing. The dead and live loads of the MT roof and thescaffolding erected on the first floor (oval room) shall be well supportedby the scaffolding erected on the upper ground floor oval room and thetotal arrangement shall be regarded safe, if executed carefully by anexperienced team. An alternative to casuarina poles would be the cup
lock scaffolding that will be supported on 'runners', running parallel andjust below the madras terrace wooden rafters on the floor and shalltransfer most of the vertical load to the walls laterally.

5

Indonesia (1)Mohammad Natsir Ridwan Muslim, Head of Maintenance and Restoration Section
Directorate of Heritage Preservation and Museums, Ministry of Education and Culture
Introduction
Indonesia is one of the maritime countries, and 2/3 of its
area is covered with waters, located between the Pacificand Indian oceans, and Asia and Australia continents.
Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world,
consisting of more than 17,000 islands. With such alocation, Indonesia is abundant with various underwater
relics.
Based on historical records, there was Kingdom of
Sriwijaya in Palembang, South Sumatra in the 7th century.
The great empire of Sriwijaya, with its maritime fleets,
had conducted diplomatic activities, exchanged religion
and culture and traded with the outside world. In the
14th century, Majapahit Kingdom expanded to a very
wide territory. The Europeans arrived Indonesia in the
16th century and left in the mid of 20th century as the
Asian-Pacific war ended. Thus many historical events
happened around the sea of Indonesia, so there should
be numerous sunken warships, airplanes and other ships.
In accordance with the legislation of the Republic ofIndonesia number 11 of 2010 on cultural heritage, whichstates that cultural heritage consists of tangible heritageand land or water which has important value for history,
science, education, religion, and/or culture through theprocess of enactment.
Survey and mapping of underwater cultural heritage is anactivity in accordance with the mandate of the legislationof the Republic of Indonesia No. 11 of 2010 on cultural
heritage, stating the Government is obliged to search for
cultural heritage, and including the underwater cultural
heritage.
To date, number of points of sunken ships has not been
entirely documented. Therefore, Directorate of Cultural
Heritage Preservation and Museums has conducted every
effort to uncover underwater ancient relics. This year,

Indonesia (1)A Survey of Underwater Archaeology

underwater archaeological survey was conducted in threelocations, namely, Morotai Island, Bintan in Riau Islands
and Togian. The survey and mapping on Morotai Island
are reported in this article.
Survey and mapping in Morotai
Location
Morotai is located in the east of Indonesia, North Maluku
Province, Pulau Morotai Regency, at 2°00’ – 2°45’ N and
128°15'-128°48' E. Survey was conducted in nine points in
Morotai Island.
Site
Morotai was once a United States Army military baseduring the World War II. Many legacies were found suchas the carcasses of tanks, war vehicles, and the submarinethat sank at the bottom of the Morotai island.
SurveySurvey and mapping of the underwater cultural heritageis an activity that is intended to search, identify, anddescribe findings that are still intact, half intact or in
the form of fragmentary. As for this activity aims tocompletely document the underwater heritage and its
area.
Morotai is abundant with underwater heritage, especiallythe underwater archaeological remains such as the frameof sunken ships, aircrafts, the old port, and others.
Before conducting a survey, there should be a literature
study, a historical source study, information collectingfrom local fishermen as well as interviews with relevant
institutions, community leaders and local tourist guides.
The survey was joined by a team from Directorate ofCultural Heritage Preservation and Museum, Office ofArcheology Department of Ternate, Local government ofNorth Halmahera, as well as the scuba association and

Map and Picture of Morotai Island

6

Indonesia (1)dive masters, and also local people who know the points
of sunken ships. The survey was conducted at the end of
October 2012 for two weeks.
It was conducted with the sounder system method that is
to identify the existence of an underwater object by using
sensors. Next step was diving to map and document thefindings by measuring, mapping, visualizing, capturing
images through video. The depth varies between 4 m to48 m. Underwater survey should be carried out based on
diving procedures.

part of the ships, while the findings found on the surface
were traces of old ports.
The hardest constraints experienced during the activity
were the weather conditions; an unexpected sea
conditions such as rain, and strong winds.

Underwater findings were in the form of ship’s frame,
jeeps, aircrafts, as well as fragments that were allegedly

Conclusion
Underwater heritage is the important evidence forhistory, science and culture. The result of the survey not
only gives information about the amount of underwater
heritage sites in Indonesia, but it also serves as areference for making policy concerning underwater
heritage preservation.

Identification of the shipwreck

Measurement of the object

Documentation of the object

Objects such as airplanes

7Indonesia (2)Indah Sulistiana Kuncoro, Architect
Board of Conservation and Architecture Studies. Indonesian Institute of Architect (IAI)
Introduction
This is a report from site observation by surveying the
preparation, interviewing some locals, and following thewhole celebration process of reroofing the tradisionalbuildings inside of Kabuyutan Trusmi Complex in
Cirebon, North West Java which was held in November
2012. The main purpose is to understand more about thereroofing method and chronology, labour mechanism,know-how, tradition and it’s value and also to explore
traditional skills and local wisdom and how to hand downthem in the local village and also how to bring them inbroader context into such apprenticeship program of
IAI (Indonesian Institute of Architect) for preserving the
traditional skills. So, the documentation of the building
itself has not yet being done because the focus is on theskill which is intangible rather than the physical aspect of
the buildings.
Kabuyutan Trusmi: location, history, and it’s cultural
heritage in the present day
Kabuyutan Trusmi is located in Trusmi village about 6 or
7 km in the west of Cirebon, the North Coastal of Java
Island. Kabuyutan Trusmi means original place where
great-grandparents (buyut) of Trusmi inhabitants started
to live. The great-grandparents of Trusmi mean Pangeran
Cakra Buana, the prince who had child name Pangeran
Walang Sungsang, the son of Prabu Siliwangi (Hinduism)
and Princess Subang Krajang (Islamic) who were still partof Padjajaran Kingdom in the 14th century. Pangeran Cakra
Buana had left Padjajaran Kingdom, had journeyed andhad founded a place of Hutan Glaga Alang-alang (forest
and thick grass) in this northern coastal area and thenhad cleaned and opened it into a wide area for living
and started spreading Islamic philosophies. The placedeveloped into a wider civilization with mixed culture
by Sundanese, Javanese, Arabic and Chinese people. The
assimilation of Hinduism and Islamic philosophies anddoctrines makes Cirebon distinct in culture such as music,
song, dance and also it’s architecture heritage.

Building with thatched roof madefrom wooven grass (welit )Building with wooden shingle roof(sirap )Indonesia (2)Documentation on Reroofing Tradition in Kabuyutan Trusmi, Cirebon

Trusmi village itself is now known as the village of batik
making for centuries. About 70 percent of inhabitants
is involved in the batik industry. Trusmi batik as northcoastal batik has been widely known as far moreenterprising with more freedom of experimentation inpattern and colour than the batik from Central Java. And
the Kabuyutan Trusmi Buildings Complex located in the
middle of this distict of culture and the batik making
settlement.
Nowadays, the Kabuyutan Trusmi Buildings Complex isdesignated as cultural heritage from the greatgrandparentsof Trusmi, which consists of several types of traditional
Javanese buildings surrounded by thick red brick walls.
Some buildings adopt wooden structures system of pillars(soko guru) and tumpang sari, and other buildings
have masonry walls. Buildings with thatched roofs are
Pewadonan (woman house), Pekuncen (guardian house),
and two Jinem, meanwhile buildings with wooden
shingle roofs are Witana, Kramat Mosque, Penyekarab,Pesujudan, and Paseban (public meeting house).
Each day Kabuyutan Trusmi Complex is guarded by aset of a Kyai (spiritual leader) and a Kuncen (guardianservice man). The total men are four sets consist of fourkyai and four kuncen who have their turn each ten days
to work in Kabuyutan Trusmi.
Reroofing Tradition in Kabuyutan Trusmi, Cirebon:
Memayu (Thatched Reroofing ) and Ganti Sirap (Wooden
Shingle Reroofing)
Memayu Tradition (Thatched Reroofing)
Memayu is an annual tradition to change the thatchedroof of traditional buildings in the Kabuyutan Trusmi
Complex which are made from alang-alang (grass) andheld by the local inhabitants as a bhakti (voluntary
service) by gotong royong (working together) as anoffering to their ancestors together with ritual celebration.
This annual reroofing is an independent activity fromgovernment, NGO, and formal institutions and has beensustained to the present since they were built.
The date of Memayu is decided by the local community,
Kyai (spiritual leaders) and Juru Kunci (guard man) at
the meeting in the date of 1 Muharram Islamic day eachyear. The agenda of this meeting is to decide the date
and the time, the quantity of materials which are needed,which parts of buildings will need repair, including how
much funds to be needed and who from the locals arewilling to give funds or materials. So all funds, materials
and labor are collected from the local themselves. The
Memayu in the year of 2012 was decided to be held in 3, 4,
and 5 November 2012.
For Memayu tradition, many people who are living

8

Indonesia (2)outside of Cirebon but still have ancestors from
Kabuyutan Trusmi come to be involved in this annual
celebration. People who live in Trusmi close their shops
and have a day-off for this tradition. Masnedi, oneof the local said, “Anak putu buyut datang ke Mesjidsebagai bhakti ke buyutnya sebaik mungkin. Karena
niat baik, maka terlaksana dengan lancar”, means sonsof greatgrandfather come to the mosque to do the best
offering and goodwill so that the tradition proceedssmoothly. This is the reason why the whole procession
has been held successfully even without any directors foryears.
The Memayu is always inisiated by the traditionalcelebration such as parades, dancing, wayang performing
and cooking kupat-lepet two days before the reroofing.
Thatched materials for Memayu
The thatched roof was made from alang-alang (grass)which was wooven into welit ordered from Singaraja andIndramayu which located outside of the Trusmi region. It
was transported by a truck or a pick-up car into Trusmi
three weeks before the reroofing. Only welit which would
be used for Omah Gede building and made on the spotby the community needed five days for wooving. On the
fourth day, the completed welit was dried under the sun
and kept in the storage house.
Welit is the piece of wooven alang-alang (grass) whichis ready to be used for roof installation. To make welit
needs one small bamboo slat of six meters in length
which called rambatan, and one bigger bamboo slat
about 2.5 cm in thickness with 1.8 meters in length
which called jalon. Alang- alang is knitted together withrambatan and jalon using lulup (rope). Lulup is a rope
made from bark of hibiscus tree (pohon waru) especiallyonly for Memayu so that it is not sold. It is made by
cutting the bark of the hibiscus tree, keeping it in thewater for five days and then peeling off the inside part,drying it under the sun and then untwisting them little bylittle.

Memayu Procession 2012
The Memayu started in the second day after the ritual
parade in Monday, 5 November 2012 at 6 am andfinished at 11 am. It took about five hours for replacing
the thatched roof by men. There was five buildings
within the Kabuyutan Trusmi Complex whose roofs had
been replaced. Only a part of the thatched roof on eachbuilding had been reroofed with the new one.
Ganti Sirap (wooden shingle reroofing)
Reroofing had been done for each eight years to allbuildings with wooden shingle roofs in Kabuyutan Trusmi
Complex, but then it was changed for each four years bydividing into two phases alternately. The wooden shingle
was made from teak wood (kayu jati) on the spot in
Kabuyutan Trusmi by inviting groups of carpenters bothfrom inside and neighbouring villages. This carpentergroup can reach about 20 up to 50 people once theycome with their own tools and machines and they arecoordinated by the Kyai of Kabuyutan Trusmi who also
has carpentry skill. The teak wood material be obtained
from the teak garden on the back and side of Kabuyutan
Trusmi and other Trusmi community land area which
are purposely planted for the reroofing need. Otherwise
the shortage material can be bought from the domestic
wood market.
The last wooden shingle reroofing was done in the year
2010, and the next one will be held in the year 2014. For
the last reroofing, five trees were cut down from the teakgarden. And the last teak wood planting was done in
the year 2008. The dimension of wooden shingle (sirap)
is 45x18x1.8 cm. Per cubic of wood can produce about
350 pieces of shingles. The production of shingles (sirap)
takes about one month with the specialization on eachcarpentry work such as cutting, curving, smoothing bothby hand or machines, and making pecks.

The wooven process of alang-alang using rambatan (small bamboo slat), jalon (bigger bamboo slat)
and lulup (rope) done by the local inhabitants for five days on the spot near Omah Gede building
which located outside Kabuyutan Trusmi Complex. The Omah Gede reroofing was held about one
week after Memayu. The labour was all voluntary work.

9

Lulup (rope) made from bark of hibiscus tree

Indonesia (2)Dismantlement of the upper ridge (bubungan ) and hip (jurai ) before reroofing
Only men who are descendants from Kyai were allowed to climb the roof.

Dismantlement of a part of thatched roof together with the wooden
frame

The other men helped to move down the old welit and transport the
new welit .

Some other men were releasing the old welit from the wooden frame
and repairing it.

The installation of new welit to the old wooden frame

The installation of new welit to the old wooden frame

Knitting new welit to the wooden frame with rob made from young
bamboo thin slat

Raising and installing a part of the new thatched roof

10

Indonesia (2)Acknowledgement
This reroofing tradition in Kabuyutan Trusmi quite
surprisingly brings a positive value in the context ofmodern building method in the year of 2012 such thatthe tradition of building maintanance still exists forsustaining the cultural heritage without written rules
and independent from the formal protection law by the
local authourity or designation from legal registration
institutions. This way of handing down the tradition canbe considered as a rebirth model of protecting traditionalarchitecture in Indonesia in other provinces which areendangered, abandoned and considered almost dying.
This model is much different from other types of cultural
assets in the city or those built in the colonial era which
need execution and monitoring by a proffessional
consultant or a contractor for conservation under certain
taskforce and legal authourity body. The crucial differenceis that the spirit of people is still alive and sustained forprotection of traditional architecture. The spirit of the

A man were installing the welit directly on the horisontal rafterof one building which has no plugged wooden frame of thethatched roof.

people and unwritten law on tradition enable people
to work based on participatory or community voluntary
work service (bhakti) to keep their ancestor’s positive
message such as tree planting beside them, which means
conservation of cultural heritage together with forest andenvironment conservation.
The next wooden shingle reroofing will become much
worth moments for any architects who want to learn
traditional skills both by apprenticeship to preserve
the skills and making further documentation. So that it
will become the next 2014 program of Residential on
Indonesian Traditional Architecture by IAI (Indonesian
Institute of Architect).
Reference
1. A nonymous, Sejarah Singkat Pangeran Walang Sungsang Alias Pangeran
Cakra Buana alias Mbah Kuwu Cirebon II alias Mbah Buyut Trusmi Sampai Di
Lingkungan Kramat Trusmi.(Cirebon)
2. Jill Gocher, Cirebon. The Times Travel Library. Times Edition. Singapore. 1990.

The reinstallation of hip ridge for finishing reroofing

Building with sirap roof

A young teakwood tree in the teak garden

11

A sample of wooden shingle (sirap )Existing sirapMalaysia
Malaysia

Restoration of the Alwi Mosque, Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia
A Ghafar Bin Ahmad, Professor
School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Introduction
Built in 1931 at a cost of RM 64,684, the Alwi Mosque isthe oldest mosque in the State of Perlis, the northern statein the Malay Peninsula. Located in the state capital of
Kangar, the mosque was named after the 4th State Ruler,
Raja Syed Alwi Ibni Al-Marhum Tuan Syed Safi Jamalillail,
who officiated the mosque on the 10th of February 1933.
The construction of the mosque was financed by various
sources including individuals, Muslim communities,
endowment fund and the State Government. The mosque
was hit twice by major flooding in 2005 and 2010 whichcaused severe damage to its walls, columns, doors
and floors at the ground level. Due to its historical,architectural and social significance, the Alwi Mosque
was declared as a Heritage building in 2008 under the
National Heritage Act 2005. In May 2011, the Federal
Government allocated an amount of RM 481,110 (USD
155,197) through the Department of National Heritage forthe restoration of the Alwi Mosque. The restoration works
involved the application of waterproofing on the flat
roofs; repairing of cracks on concrete-plastered ceiling;
and repainting of the building façades.
Architectural Background
Built in a rectangular floor plan layout, the Alwi Mosque
was originally designed with high ceiling; a big dome
above the main prayer hall; an octagonal minaret; andtwo main entrance porches with pinnacles and smaller
domes. The mosque has a wide flat roof surroundedby decorative parapets. The original main prayer hallmeasures 18.5 meters in width and 15.5 meters inlength. During the early 1970s, the main prayer hallof the mosque was extended approximately 20 meters
to the east to accommodate an increased number ofworshippers during the Friday prayer. The existing flat
roof was also extended to retain the same roof level as
the original building.
The architectural design of the Alwi Mosque reflects

Before restoration, the Alwi Mosque has been painted in several layers ofpaint of different colours including blue, cream yellow, light orange, whiteand black.

the Mughal influence incorporating onion-shaped
domes, an octagonal minaret with a turret, pointed
arches, wide verandah walkways, classical columns,
decorative parapets, and stained-glass rounded windows.
The mosque was built with plastered brick walls andcolumns, marble floors, cement and concrete flat roofs.
The most significant architectural feature of the mosque
is its elevated copper dome which rests on an octagonal
drum with stained-glass rounded windows. The originaldome was painted in black, whilst its octagonal drum
is cornered by pyramid-shaped copper roof structures.
The elevated copper dome is complimented with othersmaller domes built above the porches, minaret and theextended flat roof; all painted in black. These building
elements enhance the Mughal influence of the mosque.
Building Defects
Prior to the restoration of the Alwi Mosque, a dilapidation
survey was conducted to determine the nature of
the building problems and defects. Findings of the
dilapidation survey revealed that the mosque wasstructurally sound. However, due to severe leakages
found on its flat roof, the mosque faced two relatedbuilding defects namely falling dampness; and cracks on
concrete-plastered ceiling. These problems could be seenon the ceiling directly underneath the defective adjoining
flat roof. Crumbling concrete plaster and peeling-off painton ceiling; and corroded reinforced bars inside the ceilingwere some examples of building defects resulting fromthe roof leakages.
Restoration Works
The restoration of the Alwi Mosque involved three major
works including the application of waterproofing systemon the flat roofs; crack repairs on concrete-plasteredceiling; and repainting of building façades. All restoration
works were documented into monthly and final reports
for reference and archival purposes. Prior to carrying out
any restoration work at site, the building contractor had

After restoration, the Alwi Mosque has been painted in its original colour
which is white, whilst the copper domes in black.

12

Malaysia

to prepare a work method statement for each restoration
task involved. All work method statements are subject
to change and approval by the Department of National
Heritage. Technical and site meetings involving the
Department of National Heritage, building contractor
and the mosque committee members were conductedmonthly at the site to keep track on the work progress.
Due to close supervision and monitoring of work at site;
and good cooperation given by the mosque committee
members; the restoration works of the mosque weresuccessfully completed two weeks ahead of schedule.
Application of Waterproofing System
The application of waterproofing system at the Alwi
Mosque flat roofs involved two major stages, namely
surface preparation and application of elastomeric
polyurea coating. To ensure the quality of workmanship,these stages were carried out by trained and skilledworkers using only proven methods and techniques.
The sequence of work involved in surface preparation
stage is as follows:a. Remove temporary metal deck roof; and mechanicaland electrical (M&E) obstructions on flat roofs.
b. Clean the concrete substrate of flat roofs from dust andloose particles using high-pressure water jetting (5000
psi to 7000 psi). Air blower was used to clean dust
trapped within fine cracks.
c. Hack off any cracked or defective concrete substrateusing grinder.
d. Patch and infill cracks and screw holes using epoxy
adhesive for bonding and reinforcement.
e. Level any uneven surfaces using polymer modified
mortar.
f. Prepare angle fillet between flat roofs and the walls of
the dome drums. Mark termination lines on the walls
using grinder.
The work sequence in the application of elastomeric
polyurea coating stage is as follows:a. Apply moisture barrier coating (Duraflor NWB21), a
modified epoxy cementitious underlayment, onto clean
concrete flat roof surfaces prior to the application ofelastomeric polyurea. The moisture barrier is left todry within 24 hours to ensure no trapped moisture andwater leakages on roof surfaces.

Due to severe leakages found on its flat roof, the Alwi Mosque faced two
related building defects namely falling dampness; and cracks on concreteplastered ceiling.

13b. Apply epoxy primer (PolyVers PV 350) of elastomeric
polyurea as waterproofing coating onto concrete flat
roof surfaces. The concrete flat roofs are sprayedevenly under the controlled pressure of 2200+100 psi.
Elastomeric polyurea is volatile-free, odourless andflexible (450% to 520% elongation) with excellent
thermal stability.
Crack Repairs on Concrete-plastered Ceiling
Crack repairs on the concrete-plastered ceiling werecarried out inside the mosque based on the following
work sequence:i. Remove crumbling and defective concrete surfaces;
and corroded reinforced bars.
ii. Apply anti-corrosion coating (Sika Monotop 610) to the
exposed reinforced bars.
iii. Replace any defective reinforced bars in the concrete
ceiling.
iv. Replaster the affected areas with polymer modified
patching mortar.
v. Repaint the ceiling to match the existing colour.
Repainting of Building Facades
Over the years, the Alwi Mosque has been painted inseveral layers of paint of different colours including blue,
cream yellow, light orange, white and black. Some paints
were peeling off and fading, particularly on the building
facades. After several discussions with the mosquecommittee members and based on an old photographdepicting the original condition of the mosque, it was
decided that the Alwi Mosque should be painted in its
original colour which was white, whilst the copper domesin black.
Prior to repainting works, several mockups of different
types of off-white paints were set up on the exterior
walls of the mosque to determine the most suitable typeof paint. Repainting of building facades involved several
work stages including cleaning the wall surfaces fromdust and loose particles; scrapping off existing layers ofpaints using mechanical disc and scrapper; filling hairline
cracks with lime plaster and white scheme coat; applying
sealer on cleaned walls; and repainting the building
facades with one layer of primer or undercoat, and twolayers of off-white paint as the finishing coats (Nippon
Weatherbond Brilliant White-1001).

The Alwi Mosque showing its concrete flat roofs after the application ofwaterproofing system.

Determining the proven methods and techniques ofbuilding restoration involved elaborate discussions
and detailed analyses among project team members.
Experienced and skilled workers were engaged in
the restoration of the Alwi Mosque to ensure quality
workmanship and to achieve the standards of building
restoration works. More importantly, reinstating themosque to its original white colour has been a rewarding
experience to the Department of National Heritage
and the mosque committee members because it bringsback the glory of the mosque as the oldest and biggest
mosque in the State capital. The Department of National
Heritage has played a prominent role in protecting the
Alwi Mosque as one of the Heritage building of Malaysia.
After its restoration works, the Alwi Mosque is presently
in good condition to resume its religious activities and isfrequented by both local and foreign visitors.

Malaysia

Conclusions
The successful restoration of the Alwi Mosque has marked
another milestone in heritage building conservation in
Malaysia. The mosque restoration project has underlined
the important aspect of effective collaboration amongst
the stakeholders of this project. All project team members
including building contractor, building suppliers, themosque committee members and the Department of
National Heritage understood the nature of building
structures and construction methods prior to restoration
works. The team members equipped with technicalknowledge background were able to handle themajor building defects including roof leakages, falling
dampness, corrosion of reinforced bars and cracks on
concrete ceiling.

Reference:
ABM Mix Trading, (2011), Laporan Akhir Cadangan Baik Pulih dan Lain-lain Kerja
Berkaitan Di Bangunan Warisan Masjid Alwi, Kangar, Perlis Indera Kayangan(JWN.UP600/1/1SH11-1/1).

Cracks were found on the concrete flat roofs of
the Alwi Mosque.

Falling dampness could be seen on theconcrete-plastered ceiling of the Alwi Mosque.

The application of moisture barrier coating(Duraflor NWB21) onto the concrete flat roofsof the Alwi Mosque.

Under the controlled pressure, the concrete flat
roofs were sprayed evenly with the epoxy primer(PolyVers PV 350) of elastomeric polyurea.

Crack repairs on the concrete-plastered ceiling
involved the application of anti-corrosion
coating to the exposed reinforced bars.

Prior to repainting works, several mockups ofdifferent types of off-white paints were set upon the exterior walls of the Alwi Mosque todetermine the most suitable type of paint.

14

Maldives
Maldives

Coral Carvings of Maldives
Aishath Moosa Fikree, Curator
National Museum, Department of Heritage, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture
Maldives is a tiny island nation surrounded by beautiful
coral reefs. Thus it was easy to get different sized andshaped coral stones from our environment. This is thereason why our ancestors used coral stones to build
the most important places in their communities, suchas religious centers apart from making stone artifacts.
Remains of carved coral stone structures and items arefound in the heritage sites of almost every island along
the length and breadth of Maldives. Also carved coralstone mosques dating back to hundreds of years areconserved up to today.
Since Maldives was a pre-Islamic nation at that time, theoldest stone carvings were of mostly related to Buddhism
or Hinduism, which can be dated back to the 3rd century
BCE. Carved coral stones were the main items used tobuild Buddhist monasteries and religious items. Remainsof coral stone Buddhist monasteries, such as foundations,coral stone blocks with railings, ornamental mofits likemonkeys or lions, steps, floral designs carved on them,apart from relic pots and caskets religious statues andfigurines can be found in the heritage sites.
In 1153 CE, Maldives converted to Islam. Since Islam
prohibits the carving of statues and figurines, Maldivians
started to carve different floral and non floral patterns
apart from carving out Islamic scripts on their coral stone

15

structures from then on. Beautifully carved old coral stone
mosques and tomb stones are found in almost all islandsof Maldives showing our Islamic faith.
It can be seen by the careful examination of the coralstone artifacts available in the Maldives that the art andcraftsmanship of the people of various parts of thecountry was much different and diverse. The tomb stones
from different parts of the Maldives are a good indicator
to this.
Although coral carvings are seen in many parts of theworld, Maldivian coral carvings are very significant
because of their intricate and fine carvings. It can be said
that coral stone carving and masonry of the Maldivesis one of the most prominent and outstanding works
globally.
Due to growth of population and development of thesociety, the local citizens started using coral stone to
make their homes around a couple of centuries back.
Because of high level of taking coral stones from thesurrounding reefs, the government had to put a ban on
extraction of coral stones. This led to the decline of coral
structures and items. Nowadays coral is not taken fromour reefs anymore. Thus coral carving has became adying art with few craftmen remaining.

Maldives

16

Mongolia
Mongolia

Some Newly Found Medieval Burials from Northern Mongolia
Munkhtulga Rinchinkhorol, Researcher
Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
The brick-yard company of “Uran Selenge” in the territoryof Shaamar soum, Selenge aimag is located 3 km to thenorth from the 49th station of Ulaanbaatar railway, 1.2 km
to the east from the river Orkhon and 2 km to the west
from the hill named Buuralyn Ovoo which is 800.6 m highabove the sea level (URAN SELENGE, 2010, pp. 4, 10, 44.
Fig. 1). Since the first quarter of the last century, clay of
Buuralyn Ovoo mine has been used for the productionof such building materials as brick and roof tiles. Almost
all of the burials and the findings were found in thenorth-western corner of the mining site of this brick-yard
company
A terrace in the north and along the center of the site is apart of an old terrace of the Orkhon river and it is known
as the place has earliest fauna of the Late Pliocene Epoch(3.5-1.8 million years ago) in the Transbaikalia region(Pozdnij, 1989, p. 19).
In the late 1970s, Mongolian-Soviet Joint Paleontological
Expedition discovered a bone of Presbytis Eohanuman
Borisoglebskaja, a marmoset-like ape from the terrace
located to the west of Buuralyn Ovoo. It was thefirst discovery of the Late Pliocene primate in theTransbaikalia region (Kalmykov). The discovery in the
Northern Mongolia encouraged some archaeologists tofind fossil remains of the human ancestor.
In August 2010, a team of Institute of Archaeology,
Mongolian Academy of Sciences conducted by professor D.
Tseveendorj carried out an archaeological survey along theterrace located to the west of the hill of Buuralyn Ovoo.
No event of the fossil of human ancestor was detected by
the survey, but two burials of unidentified shapes werediscovered at the edge of the terrace or the north-western
corner of the licensed site of the brickyard (Munkhtulga,
2010, p. 2).
Between the 2nd and 4th of October 2012, the author
undertook an archaeological field-walking survey in thesite. Nine burials and some remains of a burial were
found by the survey besides the two burials found in 2010
(Munkhtulga, 2012, p. 1-16).
1. The burials
The monumental site at the terrace edge was relatively flatand it looked toward the sun-rising direction. Surroundingsights, especially the views of a famous sacred mountainnamed Dulaankhan in the south and the river Orkhon
in the south-west were unusually beautiful from thisside of the terrace and it would have been a certain
circumstance of choice for early people to bury theirdescendants. The size of the area where located the burials
was approximately 40 × 40 m (Fig. 2-4). There were atleast eleven burials by the edge of the terrace, including
some stones which may be the remnants of the burial

17

mound covered with sand. Some seven monuments werepossible to be recognized as burials and all of them werepreliminarily documented (Fig. 5-11).
There was no any nearby place that had stones same as
the burials. It was clearly determined in the wall of themining hole that the terrace was 40 m high and it only
consisted of geological strata of sand, clay and pebbles.
Therefore, the few big stones around the burials shouldhave been placed by humans. Some rocks in the bottom of
the terrace were located 120 m to the south-west from theburials. Having removed stones from the rocks, perhaps,builders of the burials used them for the burial mounds(Fig. 4).
The burials were strongly influenced by nature andhumans. Most of them were covered with sand dueto the sloping surface. Some burials were extremely
damaged because stones of the burials nearby the edge
were removed down the terrace by soil erosion. It was
visible, however, that two types of burial mound structure
occurred among the burials of the site. The first was themound with big stones that have been used as a fence.
Second, the flat mound was made with smaller stones. Sizeof the burials was not huge: 100-350 cm in length and 60310 cm in width. The shape and orientation of all of theburials were undetermined besides burial 7. The burial
7 had an oval shape and it faced to the north (Fig. 11).
Ancient ceramic fragments were spread around the burials
in the southern area. It means that some of them havebeen looted (Fig. 12 and 13).
2. The remains of a burial found from a gully
A human mandible with tooth was accidently found ina hole of a gully which was located about 60 m to thenorth-east from the burials (Fig. 16-18). The distance
between the terrace edge and the gully hole was 24 m.
A flowing rainwater eroded soil under a tree in the gully,
oriented from the north-east to the south-west and it
produced a hole of 2.7 m in depth from ground surface(Fig. 14 and 15). Also, there were a rib and phalangesof humans located about 3 m to the south-east from themandible, in the runway of rainwater. There was a left
femur of humans in the runway of rainwater along thegully. It was located about 6.4 m to the south from the rib
and phalanges (Fig. 14).
An excavation began from the hole along the rainwater
runway in the gully. The excavation trench was 10 mlong, 0.4-1.4 m wide and 0.1-0.3 m deep (Fig. 22). During
the excavation, an almost complete human skull and ribs
were revealed from fallen soil of the left wall of the gully(Fig. 19 and 20). Then a leg bone of domestic animal was
found (Fig. 29). Three fragments of a ceramic vessel wererecovered 3.2-4.1 m to the south from the place wherea mandible was found. One of them had an unusual

3. The findings
3.1. Ceramic fragments found near the burials
Twenty-six fragments of ceramic vessels were found at
the front area of the burials (Fig. 12 and 13). It was knownin process of laboratory documentation that those are
the fragments of more than ten vessels which had been
produced technically different. Thickness of the fragments
was 3-12 mm. The burning quality of the fragments was
relatively good (Fig. 23 and 24).
3.2. A human skeleton found from a gully
Most parts of the skeleton were missing, however, theimportant parts for anthropological measurement of askull and complete postcranial long bones were found(Fig. 25 and 26). Preservation condition of the bones was
relatively good. The skull would have been deformed bysoil pressure in the burial hole. Colour of the bones under
the soil was brownish-red, but the bones exposed upon
the ground surface was weathered to white colour andbecame shorter. The result of human bone measurements
showed as follows: the individual was a male mongoloid;
the age-at-death was 50±5; the height-at-death was 164±7.
It should be mentioned that incompleteness of the skeletal
remain limited the credibility of the result.
3.3. Ceramic fragments found with a human skeleton
Four ceramic fragments of 6-9 mm in thickness were
unearthed with the human skeletal remains, which might
be the pieces of one ceramic vessel. One of them had
exceptional ornaments which were the important signs to
identify the date of the ceramic fragments and the burial(Fig. 27 and 28).
3.4. Animal bones found with human skeleton
Also four leg bones of domestic animals were revealedwith the human bones (Fig. 29). It confirmed that thefindings would have been burial artifacts. From the Bronze
Age to the early Modern Age, the inhabitants of Inner Asia
had the funeral ritual that put flesh in a vessel or a pot
made of ceramic, wood or metal and buried it with thedeceased.
4. Conclusion
The number, shape, size and the external structure of
the burials of the site were much similar to the medieval
Mongol burials found from not only the territory ofMongolia but also the Transbaikalia region of Russia(Turbat & Batsaikhan, 1997, pp. 140-145). Particularly, thetwo types of burial mound of the site in much the samestyle as those in burials of the Mongol period (CE 11th to
16th century). For example, during the years between 1980
and 1984, the Mongolian archaeologists excavated twenty
Mongol burials at the site of Buural Uul, located 100 km

to the south from the Buuralyn Ovoo. The size of the mostburials was 250×150 cm. Burial mounds have the abovementioned two common types (Tseveendorj, 1999, 193).
Mortuary goods of the burials of Buural Uul can be dated
to the 11th to 13th century (Erdenebat, 2009, p. 102).

Mongolia

ornament which may belong to the Medieval Age (Fig. 27
and 28). A right femur, two human ribs and one fragmentof a ceramic vessel were found 4.5 m to the south fromthe mandible (Fig. 21). No artifact was found after one
human rib was revealed at the 7 m from the mandible.
Ancient burial’s important indications such as the piecesof burial goods and the domestic animal bones confirmedthat there was a burial near the terrace edge and it had
been damaged and removed by gully water.

There was a peninsula of Tsagaan Aral that located 1020 km to the north from the site of Buuralyn Ovoo. It wasformed by the confluence of the rivers of Orkhon andSelenge. According to “The Secret History of the Mongols”,
Tsagaan Aral was called as Talqun Aral during the 12th13th century (Perlee, 2010, 50, 237). Perhaps, there was anencampment of Dayir Usun who was a chief of a wingof the Merkit tribe. Merkit tribe was a powerful enemyof Temujin or later Chinggis Khan and partially defeatedby the Temujin’s allied force in 1182 (Rachewiltz, 2004,
411). After the foundation of the Mongol Empire, thisarea was given to Sorqan Sira who was a veteran from
Suldus tribe. The population dwelt by the confluence ofthe rivers Orkhon and Selenge in the Mongol period has
not been studied yet. The archaeological evidence is oneof the important sources for the studies on ethno-culturalprocess in the northern Mongolia, especially in the area ofconfluence of the rivers Orkhon and Selenge.
The toponym of Buuralyn Ovoo which located 2 km to
the east from the monumental site may stem from the riteof the medieval Mongols who gave a name to the special
place for their descendants burials. Buural means ‘whiteheaded person’ or ‘descendant’, and Ovoo is a typical
Mongolian sacrificial mound built with stones.
We hope that the history of ceramic production with clay
in Buuralyn Ovoo can be dated back to much earlier than
600 years ago, if the laboratory analysis will identify thechemical composition of all found ceramic fragments withclay of the Buuralyn Ovoo mine as the same.
References
Erdenebat, 2009, U. Erdenebat. Altmongolisches Grabbrauchtum. Archäologischhistorische Untersuchungen zu den mongolischen Grabfunden des 11. bis
17. Jahrhunderts in der Mongolei. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der
Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-WilhelmsUniversität zu Bonn. Bonn, 2009.
Kalm ykov, Н.П.Калмыков. Биоразнообразие в экосистемах позднего кайнозоя
бассейна Байкала. http://www.obaykale.ru/baykal-faunaMunkhtulga, 2010 - Р.Мөнхтулга. Сэлэнгэ, Дархан-Уул аймгийн нутагт ажилласан
археологийн хээрийн шинжилгээний багийн судалгааны ажлын өдрийн
тэмдэглэл. УБ., 2010.
Munkhtulga, 2012 - Р.Мөнхтулга. Сэлэнгэ аймгийн Шаамар сумын нутаг Бууралын
Овоод гүйцэтгэсэн археологийн судалгааны тайлан. УБ., 2012.
Perlee, 2010 - Х.Пэрлээ. Бүтээлийн чуулган. III боть. УБ., 2012.
Pozdnij …, 1989 - Поздний Кайнозой Монголии (Стратиграфия и палеогеография).
// Совместная Советско-Монгольская Научно-Исследовательская Геологическая
Экспедиция. Труды, выпуск 47. М., 1989.
Rachewiltz, 2004 - The Secret History of the Mongols. A Mongolian Epic Chronicleof the Thirteenth Century. Translated with a historical and philologicalcommentary by I. de Rachewiltz. Volume One. // Brill’s Inner Asian Library.
Volume 7/1. Leiden-Boston, 2004.
Tseveendorj, 1999 - Д.Цэвээндорж. Буурал уулын монгол булшууд. // Монгол улсын
нутаг дахь түүх соёлын дурсгал. (Сэдэвчилсэн лавлах). УБ., 1999.
Turb at & Batsaikhan, 1997 - Ц.Төрбат, З.Батсайхан. Эртний монголчуудын
археологийн дурсгалыг судлах асуудалд. (МЭ VIII-XV зуун). // Монгол УлсынИх Сургууль. Монгол Судлалын Дээд Сургууль. Эрдэм шинжилгээний бичиг.
Боть 9 (126), XVII дэвтэр. УБ., 1997, 140-146.
URA N SELENGE, 2010 - “Уран Сэлэнгэ” ХХК-ийн эзэмшил Сэлэнгэ аймгийн
Шаамар сумын нутаг дахь Буурлын Овоо нэртэй газарт байрлах 1258Алицензийн талбайн газрын төлөв байдал, чанарын хянан баталгааны ажлын
тайлан. УБ., 2010.

18

Mongolia
Fig. 1. ○ - location of the Buuralyn Ovoo site

Fig. 2: Licensed site of a brickyard of Buuralyn Ovooand monuments: 1 - burials; 2 - remains of a burial
found from gully

Fig. 3: Monumental site. View from the south. - burials, ○ - remain s of a burial

Fig. 4: Monumental site. From the south-east.○ - Burials, ○ remains of a burial, □ - rocks
Fig. 8: Burial 4

Fig. 5: Burial 1

Fig. 6: Burial 2

Fig. 7: Burial 3

19

Fig. 9: Burial 5. From the south.

Fig. 10: Burial 6. From the east.

Mongolia

Fig. 11: Burial 7. From the south-east.

Fig. 14: Gully where burial
remains found and left femur ofhuman. From the south-east;

Fig. 12 and 13: Ceramic fragments found near the burials

Fig. 15: Gully from the north-east

Fig. 17 and 18: Human mandible

Fig. 20: Skull and ribs from the south-west

Fig. 21: Right femur of humanand ceramic fragment. From thesouth-east;

Fig. 16: Gully hole where humanmandible found. From the southeast;

Fig. 19: Skull and ribs from thesouth-east

Fig. 22: Excavation trenchalong the runway of rainwater inthe gully

20

Mongolia
Fig. 23 and 24: Outer and inner sides of ceramic fragments found near the burials

Fig. 25 and 26: Human skeleton found from gully.
existing bones;- missing bones-

Fig. 27 and 28: Outer and inner sides of ceramic fragments found withhuman bones

Fig. 29: Leg bones of domestic animals found from gully with human skeleton

21

NepalNepal

Restoration of Pratappur Temple in Swayambhu Protected Monument Zone
Suresh Suras Shrestha, Archaeological Officer
Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation,
Background
The temples in Nepal were constructed popularly in theMulti-Roofed, the Dome and the Shikhara (mountain/
hill or peak) style architecture to build temples in thehistory. Shikhara style was also known as NAGARA andGANDHAKUTA style as well. However, there is lackof evidence on the history of Shikhara style temples
construction in Nepal, but it was already developed in
Northern India in around 6th Century AD. There are
numerous examples on this style during 16th – 17th
century AD in Nepal.

The temple was once collapsed in 2003, when it wascaught by fire. It was reconstructed completely according
to the traditional methods and norms of archaeologicalconservation at that time. Reconstruction of the temple
took a year for its completion in 2003. After about sevenyears of its reconstruction, on 15th February 2011 there
was a big thunderbolt somewhere within the core and/or around in the core area of Swayambhu Protected
Monument Zone, a component of Kathmandu Valley
World Heritage Property and damaged the significant
temple in the area.

The Pratappur temple is built in Shikhara style andits height is 60 feet, which is located in the east of
Swayambhu Mahachaitya (the great Swayambhu Stupa),
just on the right side of Vajra after the eastern steep sloppy
stairs on the hill top and Anantapura temple is on theleft. Length of the temple is 19.9 feet and width is 17 feetas well. The temple is made up of brick wall with lime
surkhi mortar and lime sukhi plaster that is built with thewooden skeleton inside it for the better protection during
the earthquake.

Everything, which was damaged by the lightening
was documented by the officials (from Department ofArchaeology - DoA) for rescue of the temple immediately;
then rescued with the coordination of Federation
Swayambhu Management and Conservation (FSMC),
the community based non-governmental organization.
As per the recommendation of the study by DoA and the
FSMC after three months, it was concluded to renovate
the temple by dismantling the whole parts except thefoundation.

Some stone pillars, stones paving and wooden doors,
windows and some other parts were also used in thetemple. Actually the bricks for wall, wood for doors andwindows, internal skeleton of the temple, pillars, stones forpillars, paving and lime surkhi for mortar and plaster wereused in the temple. These are the traditional construction
materials in and around Kathmandu valley and Nepal aswell especially in the medieval period and later.

Renovation of the Temple
After the conclusion and recommendation of the study by
DoA and FSMC, DoA proceeded to renovate the temple
immediately with close cooperation of FSMC. In the
beginning, the whole temple structure was dismantled
documenting all activities and physical status of thetemple simultaneously. Because, the important parts weredamaged rigorously by the disaster; i.e. main gate of thetemple, the North West parts and it was very important torecord all situation for renovation/reconstruction.

The temple is physically very beautiful in Shikhara stylehaving a projection above the main gate with beautifully
carving in the window which is constructed on the stonepillars and those pillars are fixed on stone of steps, which
followed towards the sanctum of the temple. The temple
is dedicated to the Tantrism in Buddhism that no one isallowed to enter inside except the priests.

Damaged by the disaster

The Government of Nepal had allocated the sufficientbudget for renovation of entire temple in two phases(actually in the two F/Y). In Nepal, especially in theconservation, renovation or reconstruction of the
traditional temples, some rituals (CHHEMA PUJA) must be
done before touching the temple for entire process andDamaged by the disaster

22

Nepalafter its completion at the time of reinstallation of images
inside temple. So, the grand CHHEMA PUJA was held for
Pratappur jointly with DoA and FSMC in March 2011, thenstarted to dismantle and again the similar CHHEMA PUJA
was organized for reconstruction of the temple in April.
The Department of Archaeology was fully involved toreconstruct the temple technically and financially, however
FSMC supported fully to execute all activities during the
project. In the same way, the local people were also awareon the project that they themselves were volunteering indifferent ways to succeed the project.

Conclusion
However, the natural disaster never comes with pre –information, but harm very badly to the human beingsand its environment. So, we should be prepare for every
possible natural calamities or disaster (during and postdisaster) and preparedness should be done regarding sucha disaster. There is no doubt that those cultural heritages
are not only the property of the entire community or area,
but the property of all human beings and its communities
in the world and those are gifted to this generation by ourancestors.

Once the temple was reconstructed just within a decadeand all the memories were around the locals andtechnicians of the Department of Archaeology that was theadvantage for the project to be succeeded. That's how the
project had achieved its goal within the targeted time andfinancial limitation.

That’s why; all the locals and the visitors raised voice
for immediate renovation of the temple during the postdisaster study by DoA. Anyway, it was renovated by DoA/
Government of Nepal in close cooperation with FSMC.
This large scale project was a good example for heritage
conservation without any difficulties and within thegovernment budgetary system executed by Governmentof Nepal as well as the fine technical solutions. It wasrenovated within a year after the disaster happened. But
the government should learn from this project that related
government authority (DoA for heritage) must allocate
sufficient budget annually for such a disaster as emergency
work that could be at least rescue the heritage at the
moment.

Finally, the Pratappur temple has completed withinaround a year in the last June (2012). However therenovation project was over successfully, government
should always be serious and allocate some adequate
budget for this type of natural disaster/hazards. This was
the second time reconstruction of a significant medieval
temple – Pratappur. It must take as a lesson by all related
stakeholders and heritage professionals.

On the process of dismantling the temple on the top (Pinnacle)

Preparing scaffolding for dismantling the temple

23

On the process of dismantling the temple

Prepared scaffolding for dismantling the temple

NepalSeverely damaged just above the foundation

Damaged northwest partIn the process of dismantling the temple

In the process of dismantling the temple

Pratappur after completion of reconstruction

The ruined part of foundations and the main gate of the temple afterreconstruction

North east elevation after reconstruction of the temple

24New Zealand
New Zealand

Project Njord : Investigation and Protection of the 1926-1932 Norwegian Whalers’Base, Price’s Inlet, Rakiura/Stewart Island
Matthew Schmidt, Regional Archaeologist, Otago/Southland
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust
Introduction
The ‘Kaipipi Shipyard’ or Norwegian Whalers’ Base(‘The Base’) is located in Price’s Inlet in Kaipipi Bay,
Paterson Inlet, Rakiura/Stewart Island (Figure 1). It isan enigmatic and isolated coastal cultural heritage siteof high significance due to the story it tells about early
20th century whaling by the Norwegians in the Southern
Ocean, and the intactness of the tangible evidence of thisoperation still present today. The site is the best example
of such a base remaining in New Zealand. The historyof The Base has been well documented by the two
historians Basil Howard (1932) and in particular Jim Watt
(1989, 2006), and brief terrestrial archaeological surveys
have been undertaken of The Base by archaeologists
Chris Jacomb (2001) and the author (2007). Although
remote, The Base is a tourist destination for water taxi
operators on Rakiura and the Department of Conservation
has interpretation panels about the shipyard locatedaround the site.
Given its high cultural heritage significance to the historyof Rakiura, however, the Norwegian Whalers’ Base is
not legally protected under any Government legislation,such as the Historic Places Act (1993), or any District

Norwegians	
  Whalers’	
  Base	  Rakiura/Stewart	
  Is.	
  Figure1. Locationof Whalers’
the Norwegian
Whalers’Basein Price’s
Inlet,
Figure 1. Locationof the NorwegianBase in Price’s Inlet,
Kaipipi Bay, Rakiura/Stewart
Island. The
Kaipipi
Rakiura/Stewart
Thesunken fromhulk
of theis 1853ship
sunken hulkBay,of the 1853
ship Othello used as aIsland.
dry wharf by
the Norwegians
1926-1932
noted.
Othello used as a dry wharf by the Norwegians from 1926-1932 isnoted.
Page 8 of 29

25

or Regional Plan. The only legal protection for theremains is a large part of the site lies on private property.
In addition, although the extent and nature of thephysical remains of the site on land are well understood(though these need further archaeological mapping), no
professional marine archaeological surveys of the water infront of The Base have been undertaken where heritage
structures and features, such as the hulk of the 1853 ship
Othello, lie close to the shore. In recent times, the site hascome under increased threat through natural and humanfactors causing concern for the SCHIP partners and thelandowner who owns the property on which most of theterrestrial remains of the site lies.
This report describes Project Njord (“Njord” is theNorwegian god of the sea and fishing), a project withthe objectives to better understand what remains of theNorwegian Whalers’ Base and to bring about increased
legal protection of the site. Important to the project
are the SCHIP partners and so an explanation of thispartnership is briefly presented first in this report. Next,
the history of the Norwegian Whalers’ Base is explained
and what is known about the tangible cultural evidence
today. How the site is currently legally protected, threats
to the site and what legal process under the Historic
Places Act (1993) can be undertaken to better protect thesite is then illustrated. Finally, the aims of Project Njord,the method for the marine and terrestrial archaeologicalsurvey and the funding gained for the project ispresented.
The Southland Coastal Heritage Inventory Project (“SCHIP”)
Project Njord is part of the Southland Coastal Heritage
Inventory Project (“SCHIP”) which is a partnership
between the Southland Regional Council (also known
as Environment Southland), the New Zealand Historic
Places Trust (“NZHPT”), the Department of Conservation(“DoC”), Te Ao Marama Incorporated on behalf ofKaitiaki Runanga of Murihiku, the Southland District
Council and the New Zealand Archaeological Association.
Each of the partners have a responsibility, either as partof their statutory function or as part of their organisations
objectives, to contribute to the investigation, protection

Figure 2. Cropped view of survey map SO 1522 from 1878 showing
a house and trig point (circled) on Lot ‘31’implying occupation at thistime in Price’s Inlet (source: LINZ).

Brief History of Occupation of the Norwegian Whalers’ Base
Currently there is no direct archaeological evidence ofMaori occupation and use of the small bay in which theNorwegian Whalers’ Base lies prior to European/Pakeha
arrival. However, given the extensive coastal occupationof Rakiura by Maori in pre and post Pakeha contact
times, the sheltered nature of Price’s Inlet and its accessto resources, this location would certainly have been
occupied by Rakiura Runaka prior to known Pakeha
occupation.
According to Howard’s original 1927-1931 Rakiura
research notebook (1927-31:86), the first Pakeha
occupation of Price’s Inlet may have been by the Weller
whaling company who operated a whaling base from thislocation. The Weller brothers had a whaling operationon the Otago Peninsula (Dunedin) called ‘Otakou’ from1831 to 1841 and so may have also been operating abase further south here in the 1830s or 1840s. Howard(1927-31:86) does not reference where he sourced thisinformation on the Weller company, but he does notethat excavation of the site would be required to confirm
if in fact a whaling station was present here prior to C.E.
Price’s shipbuilding business.

Historic records and archaeological evidence confirm theearliest known Pakeha occupation of Price’s Inlet wasby C.E. Price who established a shipbuilding operationin 1865. His shipbuilding business ceased operations in1868 after the two sawmills which supplied his timber
shut down (Howard 1927:86, 1974:199; also see Figure3). Price was a retired naval man and well known shipbuilder of skill. According to Howard (1927-31:86;
1974:200), he built one ship for a Captain Proctor andbegan a second, but after a dispute with his client, thisship was never completed before Price’s shipbuilding
business closed. Howard believes that the wooden partsof the Norwegian slipway are the original shipbuilding
skids from Prices’ shipbuilding operation and that during
his visit in 1927, Howard notes the Whalers’ had not
damaged or removed the skids (Howard 1927-31:86).

New Zealandand management of New Zealand’s/Aotearoa’s cultural
heritage. The project was established in 2003 out ofa concern by the project partners about the loss of
Murihiku’s coastal cultural heritage sites through increased
coastal erosion and human activities. The aims of the
project are to understand the nature and extent of thecoastal archaeological/heritage record on the Murihiku/
Southland coast and, using data from field visits to sites,
makes decisions on the protection and management ofvarious sites. This project has now expanded to include
Rakiura/Stewart Is. and its nearby islands. The partners
meet regularly to manage SCHIP and make decisions
on project fieldwork and site management, and eachcontribute financially on an annual basis to fund the
project.

The next historic record of occupation of Price’s Inlet
is indicated on survey map SO 1522 from February
1878 (Figure 2). This map shows a ‘house’ located on
the eastern headland of the inlet in the location of The
Base managers’ 1926-1932 house where the concrete
foundations can still be seen today. The parcel of land isnoted on the 1878 map as ‘31’ (known today as Lot 31)
but no ownership of the house or land parcel is given.
The survey map also shows a trig point to the east of theheadland and the ‘house’.
Survey map SO 2848 from July 1893 shows Lot 31 but nobuildings or ownership information (Figure 3). However,
it notes the trig point as indicated on the 1878 survey
map. It also shows two locations of bush near The Base
where ‘Old Sawmill Workings’ are present. These oldsawmill workings may relate to those depended on by
Price from 1865 to 1868 as a timber supply for his shipbuilding business.
Between 1926 and 1932 the Ross Sea Whaling Company
of Sandefjord, Norway established its repair base forwhale catcher vessels in Price’s Inlet (Figures 4 to 16).
The Ross Sea Whaling Company named their shipyard
the ‘Kaipipi Shipyard’ but it is also known as ‘The Base’,‘Price’s’ or ‘The Whalers’ Base’ (Watt 2006:3). Watt (2006:3)

Figure 3. Survey map SO 2848 from 1893 showing Lot 31. No features are noted, such as houses, but the trig point on the eastern side of theheadland from the 1878 map is indicated. Note also ‘Old Sawmill Workings’indicated by red ‘underline’in the top figure (source: LINZ).

26

New Zealandnotes that the purpose of the facility was to maintain andrepair whale catchers during the southern winter while
the factory ships returned to Europe with the whale
oil taken during the hunting season from November to
February. The fifteen Star whale catchers were repaired
at various times at the yard as well as other catchers suchas the Karrakatta. The yard consisted of the slipway,
workshop (including a forge), cookhouse, carpenters
shop, bunkhouse, winch house, a tin hut and the Othello
Wharf which was a wharf made from the hulk of theship Othello (the hulk was fixed, not floating) (Figure17). The buildings were weatherboard built on concrete
foundations (pads, footings or piles) with the manager’s
house and bunkhouse being kit set buildings broughtfrom Norway (these buildings still survive in Oban
today). The Base was used for basic maintenance andrepairs of the catcher boats as it did not have a foundry
to undertake any larger repairs, this being carried out
at Port Chalmers near Dunedin (Watt 2006:3). Up to 38
Norwegians operated The Base and during the weekends
excursions were made to Oban, Rakiura’s main town, for
supplies and socialising. The base closed in 1932 due toa ‘glut’ in the whale oil market (Watt 2006:3). This led towhaling moving away from the Ross Sea and the Ross Sea
Whaling Company moving its facilities to South Africa.
The Base (Lot 31) has not been occupied since 1932 andis currently privately owned. Lot 3 located next to The
Base proper, and which may have part of the bunkhouse
located on it, is also privately owned.
Terrestrial and Marine Heritage Remnants of ‘The Base’In Figure 17 is shown a basic plan of the Whalers’ Basewith figures 18 to 37 showing pictures of some of thehistoric features which could be seen in 2007 during avisit by the author. Considering first the terrestrial remainsof The Base (Figures 18 to 29), evidence of almost all
the buildings and structures described in historic records(eg. by Howard 1927-31, 1974; and Watt 1986, 2006)
and which can be seen in historic photographs of thesite can be seen today. As the Norwegians built theirstructures on concrete foundations, these tough elements
have survived well although damage is occurring to theconcrete features from vegetation encroachment andweathering. The site has numerous metal items andartefacts scattered around the ruins and in the vegetation.
These consist mainly of unidentifiable pieces of worked
metal but highly significant items are easy to locate suchas whale catcher propellers, actuator springs, the cablefrom the slipway winch and a diving pump used tosupply air to a ‘standard diving dress’ also known as aJohn Brown. The rotary dive pump was manufactured by‘John Formby & Co Makers Liverpool’ (Figures 25 & 26).
The London Gazette of 24 October 1873 notes that thiscompany was dissolved on 30 June 1873 giving this pieceof machinery not only a very early age of manufacture
but an interesting history of use at The Base.
Known artefacts/structures in the marine environment(from the intertidal to deeper water, Figures 30 to 37)
consist of the concrete and wooden slipway (the wooden
elements possibly dating from Price’s 1865 ship buildingskid), whale catcher propellers on the beach, actuator

27

springs, the Othello hulk and the workshop Swedish
boiler which provided steam for working the workshop
machinery (abandoned by Captain Hamilton at the end of
the slipway in ca. 1840 (Watt 2006:6)). Other than thesestructures or artefacts, little is known about what otherremains from The Base lie below the low tide mark. It
is also unknown in regard to the Othello how much of
the wreck remains and what state of preservation it is in(Figure 37).
Legal Protection of the Cultural Heritage Remains of theNorwegian Whalers’ Base
The remains of The Base lie across four legal entities,
two being private land owners and two being Councils.
Most of the terrestrial remains lie on one owner’s private
property with only part of the Bunkhouse possibly lying
on another private property. The front of the site haseroded back ca. 5m or more from its original alignment
above the beach and so part of the beach items may lie
on the original private land boundary (Lot 31). The beacharea from the edge of Lot 31 to above the spring MHW(“Mean High Water”) mark is road reserve administeredby the Southland District Council and in this area the
majority of the whale catcher propellers are located.
Any remains of the site below the spring MHW mark areunder the jurisdiction of Environment Southland and it
is in this area that the Othello, for example, lies and anyother marine remnants of The Base.
As noted above, the Norwegian Whalers’ Base is not
currently protected under any New Zealand legislation
or Regional or District Plan. Portable or moveable
artefacts from the site which lie on private land gain
some protection from theft as they are owned by thelandowners. However, the landowners themselves
could dispose of artefacts from the site. In addition, thelandowners could apply for consent to build on the site,
for example, and destroy part of the site for this purpose,though one landowner is supportive of increased legal
protection (see below).
For those significant components of the site that lie on
Southland District Council and Environment Southlandadministered land and water, any person may seek
permission from one of the relevant Councils to remove

Figure 4. The Base ca. 1926-1932 showing the cookhouse (far left),workshop (centre), carpenter’s shop (far right) and bunkhouse (top,in the bush above the working area of the base) (Photo: Southland
Museum & Art Gallery).

Threats to the Norwegian Whalers’ BaseThreats to The Base are from coastal erosion, visitor
impacts and fossicking of the site. The most immediaterisk to the site at present is from salvaging or fossickingof the sites’ remains, particularly the whale catcher
propellers on the shore and on land, the John Formby
rotary divers pump and any marine artefacts. In April
2012 the NZHPT was contacted by a marine heritage
enthusiast who was seeking the NZHPTs support andpermission to remove propellers from the site. Any easily
moveable propellers were being sort so these items
could be taken back to a town many miles away, sandblasted and then put on display outside a museum. It wasclaimed the propellers and any items below the water
were a navigation risk, which they are not. The NZHPT
contacted one of the private landowner's on whose
property some of the items being sort were located.
The NZHPT advised the marine heritage collector
that digging to remove any items would require an
Archaeological Authority from the NZHPT but that theitems themselves were not protected under the Historic
Places Act (1993) or under the Regional or District Plan.
The enquirer was advised that the NZHPT would oppose
any removal of any items from The Base.
Protection of the Terrestrial and Marine Remains through‘Declaration’ under the Historic Places Act (1993)
The most direct and effective way of legally protecting
a significant heritage site from the early 20th century is
to have that site declared an archaeological site by the
Board of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust under
Section 9(2) of the Historic Places Act (1993) (“HPA”).
This declaration is notified in the New Zealand Gazette,hence why this protection mechanism is often termed‘Gazettal’ or ‘Declaration’. The NZHPT has undertaken
five ‘declarations’ since 1993 these being: the 19041905 Napier Prison Wall; 20th century gold mining
heritage in the Remarkables Conservation Area in theUpper Nevis, Otago; the Makatote Tramway, State

Figure 5. The Base ca. 1926-1932 showing a whale catcher at the startof the slipway at medium tide (Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Highway 4, Erua; the Featherstone Military Camp; andLimeburner’s Bay, Hobsonville. These five sites were‘declared’ archaeological sites to protect them becauseof their significant cultural heritage value to early 20th
century New Zealand history, their rarity value and theirability to educate visitors about an important aspect of
New Zealand history. The Norwegian Whalers’ Base iscertainly an early 20th century heritage site which meetssuch criteria for ‘declaration’ or ‘gazettal’.

New Zealandthese items which, although various conditions fromthese Councils may have to be met for their removal,
without any specific legal heritage protection, interested
parties such as DoC and the NZHPT would find it difficult
to successfully oppose their removal.

A key aspect of the ‘declaration’ process is landownersupport. Although this is not required under Section 9(2) of the HPA (1993), the NZHPT believes that only
through landowner support can true long term protection
and management of a site be gained as both parties havean interest in achieving positive heritage outcomes fora heritage place. The private landowner who owns theland containing almost all of the terrestrial remnants of
The Base (Lot 31), has provided his written agreement tosupport the ‘declaration’ of the remains of the Norwegian
Whalers’ Base. This agreement was spurred on by the
recent enquiry into removal of propellers from his
property.
Project Njord is currently seeking support from theSouthland District Council (‘SDC’) and Environment
Southland (‘ES’) for the ‘declaration’ of all of The Baseremains on road reserve and in the marine environment.
With the ‘declaration’ support from SDC, ES and theowner of Lot 31, a strong proposal for the protection of
the marine and terrestrial remains of The Base can bepresented to the Board of the NZHPT.
Aims of Project Njord
Project Njord has three aims to achieve a better
understanding of the site and its long term protection:• U ndertake a marine archaeological survey of thewater in front of The Base to determine the natureand extent of any marine heritage structure/features/
items.
• G ather additional terrestrial heritage data to
supplement that already recorded previously at The
Base.
• U
 se the marine and terrestrial heritage survey
data to prepare a proposal to the Board of the
NZHPT to declare the Norwegian Whalers’ Base an

Figure 6. The Base ca. 1926-1932 showing the slipway (centre),
originally dating from 1865, and the Othello Wharf (far left) (Photo:
Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

28

New Zealandarchaeological site under Section 9(2) of the Historic
Places Act (1993).
Project Njord Team, Methodology & Funding
Five persons make up the Project Njord team: marinearchaeologists Matthew Carter and Andy Dodd, NZHPT
Regional Archaeologist Dr Matthew Schmidt (ProjectManager, terrestrial and some marine archaeology),
Southland Museum of Art & Culture archaeologist David
Dudfield (terrestrial archaeology) and historian Jim Watt.
Fieldwork is planned from the 7th to the 12th of March2013.
The marine archaeological survey will require the marinearchaeologists to undertake swim line searches using
the jackstay search method across what is believed tobe the main marine area in front of The Base where
cultural heritage remains may be found. This method will
ensure the marine component of the site is systematicallyinvestigated. Finds will be marked with floats anddescriptions/photographs/gps taken. An underwater metal
detector will also be used. The hulk of the Othello will besurveyed in detail with the site being broken up into three
10x12m sections, and recording using baseline and offset
measurements along the keel line over four consecutive
dives. The marine survey will take a minimum of threedays with one day as a weather backup. During this time,
the terrestrial archaeology recording will be undertakenwith the site being mapped using an Ushikata surveying
compass and GPS to supplement previous survey data on
The Base, and site structures and features will be drawn.

Conclusions
Project Njord will be the first marine archaeologicalsurvey aimed at protecting a post-1900 marine heritagesite in New Zealand. The project will therefore not only
result in the long term protection of a highly significant
cultural heritage site which has both terrestrial and marine
heritage components, but may also provide a template forother projects of this type around New Zealand.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the SCHIP partners, Environment
Southland, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, theMarine Archaeological Association of New Zealand, theSouthland Museum & Art Gallery and the Departmentof Conservation for their project support, funding andresources. Thank you also to the Rakiura office of the
Department of Conservation for use of boat the ‘Hananui’,and its skipper Steve Meads.
References
Barr, W. & J. Watt. 2005. Pioneer whalers in the Ross Sea, 1923-33. Polar Record 41(219): 281-304.
Department of Conservation Interpretation Panels, Price’s inlet Norwegian Whalers’Base, Stewart Island.
Howard, Basil. 1927-1931. The Places Names of Stewart Island. Unpublishedresearch notebook held by the Howard Family, Dunedin.
Howard, Basil. 1974. Rakiura – A History of Stewart Island, New Zealand. Publishedby A.H. and A.W. Reed, Dunedin and Wellington for The Stewart Island Centennial
Committee. (reprint of 1940 edition).
Watt, Jim. 1989. Stewart Island’s Kaipipi Shipyard and the Ross Sea Whalers’.
Published by Jim Watt, 41 Chambers Street, Havelock North 4130, New Zealand.
(reprinted 2000).
Watt, Jim. 2006. An Explanation and guide to The Whalers’ Base, Paterson inlet,
Stewart Island, New Zealand. Published by Jim Watt, 41 Chambers Street, Havelock
North 4130, New Zealand.

The project has full funding in large part due to asignificant donation by Environment Southland (Southland
Regional Council) for the marine archaeology component,
and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and Southland
Museum & Art Gallery for the terrestrial archaeology
work and declaration preparation. The Department ofConservation on Rakiura is also contributing significantly
by providing boat transport and a skipper for thefieldwork. The Marine Archaeological Association of New
Zealand is also donating recording equipment.

Figure 7. Another view of The Base looking from the Othello (Photo:
Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

29

Figure 8. The five Star catcher boats moored at the Othello wharf withanother in the background (Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

New ZealandFigure 9. The whale catcher Karrakatta being stabilised on the slipway.
The winch-house can be seen in the back right of the photograph (Photo:
Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 10. The Othello moored in place using driven piles (Photo:
Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 11. Top: Map from 1929 showing the location of the Norwegian Whalers’ Baseon Rakiura/Stewart Is. and the Ross Sea where the whaling took place. Bottom: The
whale catchers (probably part of the Star fleet of catchers) making their way throughthe ice in the Ross Sea (Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 12. A Star whale catcher with its catch in the Ross
Sea (Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 13. Star whale catchers with their catch in the Ross Sea (Photo:
Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 14. Factory ship C.A. Larsen (Photo: Southland Museum & Art
Gallery).

Figure 15. Factory ship Sir James Clark Ross with a Star whale catcher
alongside (Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

Figure 16. A ‘Flenser’ processing a whale on an ice flow in the Ross Sea(Photo: Southland Museum & Art Gallery).

30

New Zealand
31

Figure 17. Plan of the Norwegian Whalers’ Base from one of the DoC onsite interpretation panels.

Figure 18. Foundations of the Managers’ house showing the entranceway(NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 19. Concrete pad indicating location of the Cookhouse (NZHPT2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 20. Foundations of the workshop (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 21. Standing inside the foundations of the workshop showing how
close it is to the water’s edge (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 22. Another view of the foundations of the workshop (NZHPT2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 23. View E over the foundations of the Carpenters Shop (NZHPT2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 24. Whaler catcher propeller 18m SE of the Carpenters Shop(NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

New ZealandFigure 25. John Formby & Co Makers Liverpool rotary dive pump locatedclose to the NE wall of the Carpenters Shop (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 26. Close view of the John Formby & Co Makers Liverpool rotary
dive pump (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 27. Foundations of the Winch House obscured by vegetation(NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 28. One of the iron pins in the Winch House Foundations used tosecure the winch machinery (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 29. The Bunkhouse Foundations (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 30. View of the slipway looking SW towards the workshop(NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

Figure 31. View of the slipway looking N towards the abandoned
workshop boiler (NZHPT 2007). See Figure 17.

32

New ZealandFigure 32. Whale catcher propellers on the beach (NZHPT 2007).

Figure 33. Propellers and other metal items on the beach (NZHPT2007).

Figure 34. Winch drum (?) on the beach (NZHPT 2007).

Figure 35. Mass of rusting metal including a box, actuator springs andcables(NZHPT 2007).
Figure 36. The Swedish boiler abandoned by Captain Hamilton in ca. 1840 (Watt 2006:6) (NZHPT 2007).

Boiler	  Slipway	
  Workshop	
  Figure 36. The Swedish boiler abandoned by Captain Hamilton in ca.
1840 (Watt 2006:6) (NZHPT 2007).

33

Figure 37. Google Earth (2012) view of the Whalers’ Base showing the hulk of the Othello (circled) beneath the
Figure37. Google Earth (2012) view of the Whalers’Base showing
water. It is unknown what other marine heritage structures or items may be present.
thehulk of the Othello (circled) beneath the water. It is unknown what
other marine heritage structures or items may be present. Page 29 of 29

Pakistan
Pakistan

Conservation of Archaeological Remains at Harappa: Problems, Methods and
Suggestions
Muhammad Aasim Dogar, Field Officer
Directorate General of Archaeology, Department of Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology & Tourism, Government of the Punjab
Location, Discovery, Excavations
The site of Harappa is located about 27 kilometers south
west of Sahiwal city. It is considered the second largest
city of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization (Fig.1.A).
Charles Masson, a British military deserter was the first
who mentioned Harappa in his travel account, Narrativeof various journeys in Baluchistan, Afghanistan and
the Punjab. He visited the site of Harappa in late
1820s. Afterwards Alexander Cunningham, the famous
archaeologist, visited the site of Harappa twice in 1853
and 1856.
Harappa was declared as protected site in 1920s, under
AMP Act 1905, but unfortunately the mounds of Harappa
had long been the source of brick blasts for about 160
kilometer of the railway track (Lahore – Multan) as well
as a ready means of a brick quarry for the local peopleof the modern town of Harappa. The laying of railway
line and the activities of local brick robber destroyed themost of brick structures of remains. M.S Vats, an excavatorof the site, remarked about the destruction of the site as
follows:
I made several excavations at Harappa, but the wholesurface had been so cleared out by the railway contractorsthat I found very little worth preserving (S.M. Vats,
Excavations at Harappa Vol.1, Calcutta, 1940 p.3).
After the protection, archaeological excavations werestarted and many archaeologists excavated the site tounderstand the mysteries of the Indus Valley Civilization.
The first archaeological excavation at Harappa wasconducted by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921 and continued up
to 1925. Modho Srup Vats excavated the site from 1926 to
1934, followed by the excavations of K.N Shastri in 1937.
Sir R.E.M. Wheeler laid the trenches on the site from 1944
to 1946. The post independence excavations were carriedout by Dr. Muhammad Rafique Mughal in 1966 adding
useful information to that of the already known.
The American Archaeological Mission in coordination
with the Department of Archaeology and Museums,
Government of Pakistan, under the guidance of Dr.
George F. Dales started archaeological research at
Harappa in 1986. The other principal members of theteam were Dr. Richard H. Meadow and Dr. J. M. Kenoyer.
As a result of the excavations since 1986, a large area ofHarappa site was unearthed and new chronology wasestablished, which is as under:
1. Ravi aspect Hakra
2. Kot Diji Phase
3. Harappan Phase
4. Harappan/late Harappan transition
5. Late Harappan (Cemetery H) phase

3500-2800 B.C
2800-2600 B.C
2600-1900 B.C
1900-1800 B.C
1800-1500 B.C

General Description of Ancient Site Of Harappa
The whole circuit of ruins at Harappa, is roughly12,500

feet or near about 4 km in circuit with maximum heightof 60 feet above the surrounding cultivated fields and lieson the left bank of dried bed of river Ravi (Fig. 1.B). It
may be mentioned again that the brick diggers, made thewhole site so disturbed that in 95% of case it is impossible
to understand the plan of the actual houses not to speakof the layout of the street, drainage system etc. However,from the available features of the remains, the old cityof Harappa may be divided into two parts; the lower
and the upper. The lower part consists of the remains
at Mound E towards the east and southeast where thesouthern gateway has also been recovered. To the south
lie Cemetery R 37, Cemetery H, and Area G, and Mound
F to the north. The workmen platforms and quarters
and the granary, which appear to have functioned under
the administrative control of the Citadel, stand to thenorthwest. The upper part includes the whole of the AB
Mound, The citadel area, where the defense wall and thewestern gateway are situated.
Architecture and Masonry
It has been observed by the researchers that thefoundations of Harappa city were laid out in accordancewith a pre-engineered scheme. But the brick diggers, as
pointed out earlier, had disturbed the whole site to suchan extent that the excavators could not possibly reproduce
a complete layout of the houses. In this context, M.S. Vatssaid,
The aspect of the ruins, so far brought to light, is in
general so hopelessly mutilated that in 95 per cent of thecases it is impossible to draw even a tentative plan of what
the houses once looked like, much less to reconstruct theirfacades, or the layout of their streets, drainage systems,
and the like.
However, we can conjecture from the study of a few
better-preserved remains that most of the Harappans
lived in houses made of burnt bricks from the earliest
time onwards. The usual size of the brick is 11 × 5.5 to
3 inches. Both baked and mud bricks were used in the
middle class houses in the intermediate period of the city
life. In some cases sun dried bricks were used for raisingsolid terraces to ward off the flood dangers. Mud wasused as a common mortar in the masonry work but insome cases gypsum was also used for pointing purposes
to add solidity to the structure. In a few instances bricks
with relief works were also used for decoration in thehouses probably inhabited by the rich class.
The house floor was usually made either of mud or bricks
lay in flat position and also partly executed on edge
pattern. The bathrooms were paved with well-rubbed
bricks, having very fine joints. Bricks laid on edge either
on their longer of shorter sides, were used to borderthe pavements. The remains of houses are of very smallheight and as such no signs of window etc. have been
traced. It is for this reason that not much of corbelling

34

Pakistanwork was found in the city of Harappa. It is interesting tomention that only three instances of stairways have been
observed in the excavated buildings. Their risers are highand the steps are narrow.
Drains made of burnt bricks have been discovered. They
are covered either with flat roof, gabled roof or roundarch. In some cases, the drains have been kept completely
open. These open drains were probably meant forthe drainage of a particular area. There were dustbins
alongside the drains sunk below the ground level. These
were always paved and built at suitable places in thestreet. Also there were refuse water pits lined with jars
which were used for storing the used up water from thebaths or kitchens and were to be cleaned by the sweepers
employed by the civic authorities especially for thispurpose.
The number of wells was low at Harappa as comparedto Mohenjo Daro, i.e., only six wells were recovered at
Harappa. They are all public wells and their diameter
ranges from 1 foot 10 inches to 7 feet. It is to be notedthat the wells found in F- Mound are so small thattwo people at one time cannot draw water from them.
However, the diameter of the wells situated away fromthe ancient bed of Ravi is much bigger. The reason isthat the people living close to the river might have usedwell water only for cooking and drinking purpose whilepeople occupying the area of the city away from the river,utilized the well water for all purposes and hence theconstruction of large size wells was reasonable necessity.
Conservation Hazards to the Archaeological Remains at
Harappa
1. Efflorescence
Efflorescence is a very common problem here being
faced by the entire site. When a structure or any object
is unearthed, it becomes brittle under the effect ofefflorescence interacting with the open atmosphere andthe entire surface of the structure/ unearthed object iscovered with accumulation of salts, thereby disintegrating
into ashes. The entire site is badly under the attack of thismenace and the removal of the salts from the entire siteis almost impossible. However, the unearthed structure/object may be secured by treating them chemically after
the process of desalination. It is worth mentioning that thedesalination of the moveable objects both small and large
is possible easily in the laboratory while the immovableintact large and massive structures at site are difficult tobe desalinated completely. Mud plastering of excavatedremains is common method in use to overcome thisproblem (Fig. 2.A).
2. Defacing of the sections of excavated remains
The 1920s excavations had left deep sections andtrenches open. There was no concept of re-burying of
the archaeological sites at that time. With passage of time,the deep trenches defaced because there was no binding
force between the salt affected and swollen particles
of mud. The weathering effect, the sun and rain, alongwith toddling of a number of visitors on the site hascompounded the disintegrating process. Consequently the
structures in the old trenches have completely lost theiridentity.
The erection of retaining walls against the defaced

35

section have been experienced in the past, especially on
the AB mound and F mound in order to keep the deep
defaced sections of the excavated trench in a presentablecondition. Before erecting the retaining walls against thedefaced sections, the basic ethic of conservation was
kept in mind that the measures being adopted should bereversible. The retaining walls were constructed with sun
dried and burnt bricks, using mud mortar as a binding
material. The burnt bricks were used on the faces of thewalls for strengthening of the faces, while the sun dried
bricks were used on hearting and backing of walls. The
loose earth of the defaced section was removed carefully
before construction of the retaining wall in required
position. The presence of antiquities in the loose soil was
also kept in mind while removing the loose earth. The
foundation trench was also dug very carefully keeping inview the exact extant of excavated trench. The foundation
bed was not laid in a uniform level rather it was kept low
or high at various pieces of lengths depending upon theavailability of comparatively hard soil to bear the deadload of the wall being erected over it. The second purposeof keeping uneven levels at various pieces of length was
to avoid the maximum cutting of soil at site and thirdly
to add the minimum retaining walls structure at site, andfourthly to minimize the thrust pressure of the back filled
mud behind the retaining wall. Moreover abutment walls
across the retaining walls behind the retaining wall in the
shape of T or U were provided to avoid overturning ofretaining walls under the thrust pressure of back filledearth.
The retaining wall was kept slightly tapering towards the
top to bear the maximum thrust of the back filled earth.
First the lower most portions of both the retaining andabutment walls are completed and after maintaining theuniform level of the uneven retaining and abutment walls,
the remaining entire wall was completed up to the top
level of the section. The depressions behind the retiring
walls were refilled and compacted with filling of removed
earth from the trench after its screening for sort it out thepossible antiquities in the soil. The facade and the top
backfilled areas were plastered with mud mortar, to avoid
the penetration of rainwater in the newly built retaining
wall and to provide a safe passage to rain water awayfrom the trench (Fig. 2.B).
3. Conservation of existing structures at the site
As a result of scientific excavations at site since 1920 tillto date, both movable and immovable antiquities wererecovered in large number. The movable antiquities werebrought to the laboratory for their chemical treatment,
while the immovable antiquities remained intact at site.
At Harappa, mostly low level remains were unearthed asa result of theft of bricks as a ready means before carryingout the archaeological excavations and declaration of theremains as protected by the department. The structures
also faced natural hazards because they remained open
to atmospheric and climatic changes for a long periodof time. The efflorescence was proved to be the worst
enemy of the existing structures.
With the passage of time the bricks originally laid in
mud mortar subjected to various weathering effects
loose the bondage between the mud mortar and thebricks. Consequently, the structures become loose anddisintegrated. To keep the structures intact, re-erection of

4. Strengthening of the existing Archaeological structures at
site
Various movable and immovable antiquities have been
recovered during the archaeological excavations of pastfew decades at Harappa. Among the existing structures
belonged to the lower most, the middle and upper levels,
corresponding to different time periods. The middle
and upper level structures are standing on the pedestalof original earth filling under their respective beds. As
the earth was loose, swollen and badly affected by
the efflorescence, hence, it was necessary to keep theoriginal earth under the structure intact. For this purposea technique called erecting “mud pushta” (retaining wall)
was applied at the site. During the process of conservationa protective thick layer of mud mortar mixed with bhusa(wheat straw) was applied around the earth filled pedestalof the structure keeping the mud mortar tapering towards
the top. Due to this retaining wall, the original earth fillingunder the structure was saved to get escaped under thepressure of dead load of brick structure over it (Fig. 3.B).
5. Erosion of historical mounds under the weather effects
The archaeological mounds of Harappa are locatedat various levels and provenances. These mounds areconstantly subjected to the various weathering effects andface the down slides and the wind storms. Harappa has adesert like environment, with extremely hot days startingfrom May and extending to the middle of October,every year. Dust storms are common features in thisarea, causing erosion and blowing of the archaeologicalmounds. It is an inescapable natural phenomenon ofHarappa. It could not be escaped. However, a thickplantation around the site may help in making the soil
compact and controlling the strong wind storms.
The temperature becomes cool in early morning and thenights, towards the end of August and about the middleof September. There arises a sharp contrast in hot day
strong winds, and the cool breeze of the mornings andthe nights. This difference in temperature causes cracks,
leading to the natural erosion of the archaeologicalstructures.
The second weathering factor is the heavy rainfall, which
generally set in the month of July, but the heaviest
average rain falls is recorded in the month of August.
In November, there is no rain but there is rainfall in themonth of December. As a result of heavy lashes of rains,
the water begins to flow very rapidly towards the down
streams sliding over the slopes of the mounds finding its
natural ways. The rapidly descending rainwater from theslopes of the mounds, cause a lot of destruction to the
pre-historic mound. The rain water erodes the slopes,
making fissures, gaps and gullies taking away with it
the unearthed moveable antiques and leaving behindthe existing naked structures to face the hazards on thehands of weather and other agents responsible for thedestruction of the site. The rain water after descending
from the mounds collects at various points and starts
flowing very rapidly towards the low lying adjacent areas
around the mounds, involving cutting and erosion of low
lying areas under the rapid flow.

Pakistan

the loose portions of the structures is done either in the
shape of underpinning by inserting the original bricks inthe core apply fresh mud mortar in the effected portion
or by inserting new bricks of original size with fresh mud
mortar if the original bricks removed from the structure
were so brittle and were unable for their reuse. However,every effort is made during the process of conservationthat the original pattern for re-laying of bricks may be
adopted (Fig. 3.A).

The natural solution to this problem is the sufficient
vegetation all over the historical mounds to slow down
the speed of the descending and flowing water tominimize the erosion at site during the hours of heavy
rains.
The second possible man-made measure towards thisproblem is giving the safe passage to the rain water tominimize the erosion process during the rain hours. For
this purpose measures can be taken like refilling backthe fissures, gaps and gullies with mud and compaction
properly. Moreover, surface dressing in a way to givea wider and safe passage to the rain water instead of anarrow one, which causes rapid erosion.
Many other reversible practical measures can also be
adopted for minimizing the erosion of the site. One isamong them to lay a thick layer of mud mortar mixed
with bhusa (wheat straw), over the treated area mentioned
above and then laying a jute mat sheet/polythene sheet
or simply putting a layer of loose dry straws over the
mud and then applying another mud mortar layer over
it to provide a safer and wider passage to the rain waterfor checking the erosion due to the rain water (Fig. 4.A).
The measure can be repeated if the earlier laid layers are
eroded due to the flow of rainwater.
Another reversible measure which may also be adopted
at the site is the rough dressing of descending passagesof rain water and providing a layer of mud mortar mixed
with bhusa (wheat straws) and then laying simply a drylayer of sun dried bricks may be laid on edge in a hairbone bond of the masonry. The top of the sun-dried
bricks may be kept free of a layer of mud mortar or it canbe provided with a layer of mud mortar keeping in view
the position of the site. This measure will also provide asafe passage to the descending and flowing water without
affecting the site. This is very simple process, which may
be repeated if the sun dried bricks on the way of water
are washed away due to erosion.
Conclusion
Conservation of archaeological remains at Harappa is asensitive and difficult job. The whole site had been badly
destroyed by the brick robbers before it was declaredprotection in 1920. Due to this destruction apparently
site did not present the true picture of the architectural
remains typical of the Indus Valley Civilizationarchitecture, as one can see in Mohenjodaro.
One possible solution to this problem is reconstructionof missing portions of the structures so that visitors may
observe the true picture of the Harappan architecture. This
reconstruction should only be done after careful study of
excavations at Harappa and study of preserved remains at
Mohenjodaro that were contemporary to this site.
The Archeological remains at Harappa are in high dangerof erosion and destruction due to the presence of high36

Pakistanlevel of efflorescence in soil and other weathering effects.
The Federal Department of Archaeology of Pakistan, in
spite of its limited resources, is trying its best to preserve
the archaeological remains at Harappa, but still there ismuch to be done on the site. One possible solution tothis is the reconstruction of the same over the originalafter reburying original ones. This is already done by theAmerican Archaeological Mission on mound E, where they

have constructed city wall in same place after burying theoriginal city wall.
At the end it is strongly suggested that further excavations
at the site of Harappa should immediately be got stopped
until and unless the Department properly preserves andconserves the already excavated remains.

Bibliography
1. D r. A. H. Dani, Recent Archaeological Discoveries in Pakistan. The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1984, Paris, France.
2. D
 r. A. H. Dani, Deciphering Indus Script Courier, Dec. 1974.
3. D
 r. Ahmad Nabi Khan, Mohenjodaro, The Story of its Discovery and Excavations.
4. D r. Ahmad Nabi Khan, The Indus Valley Script- A Survey of Attempts for its Decipherment. The Archaeology Vol. II No.2.
5. S
 .M. Vats, Excavations at Harappa. Vol.1, Calcutta, 1940.
6. D
 r. M R. Mughal, New Archaeological Evidence from Bahwalpur.
7. D
 r. M R. Mughal, the Cultural Patterns of Ancient Pakistan and Neighboring Regions Circa 7000-1500 BC. Pakistan Archaeology No.26, 1991.
8. D
 r. M R. Mughal, the Harappan “Twin Capitals” and Reality. Journal of Central Asia Vol. XIII No.1, July 1990.
9. D
 r. M. R. Mughal, Further Evidence of the Early Harappan Culture in the Greater Indus Valley 1971-90. South Asian Studies, 6 London, 1990.
10. D
 r. M.R. Mughal, New Evidence of the Early Harappa Culture from Jalilpur. Pakistan Archaeology, No. 2, 1974.
11. D
 r. M. R. Mughal, Genesis of the Indus Valley Civilization. Lahore Museum Bulletin Vol. I (i) 1988: P: 45-54.
12	Dr. M R. Mughal, the Proto-Historic Settlement Patterns in Cholistan Desert. South Asian Archaeology 1987, Rome Instituto the Italliano Per IL Medo
Ed Estremo Orient 1990.
13. D
 r. M.R. Mughal, Archaeological Field Research in Pakistan since Independence. An overview. Bulletin of the Deccan College, Post –Graduate &Research Institute. Vol. 49, 1990, Ed. By Professor H.D. Sankalia. Pune.
14. Dr. F.A. Khan, the Glory that was Harappa.

Figure 1. A.

Figure 1. B.

37

Pakistan

Figure 2. A. Mud plaster applied on remains in great granary mound F toprotect structure from efflorescence factor.

Figure 2. B. Construction of retaining walls in progress to protect
sections of the trench. Mound F

Figure 3. A. Conservation of existing structure in progress on great
granary Mound F

Figure. 3. B. Soil beneath a late Harappan wall strengthened byapplying mud pushta Mound AB

Figure 4. A. The ground level of trench in Mound F stabilized by surface dressing
and mud plastering

38Philippines
Philippines

The Artefact Storage Room at the Archaeological Studies Program, University of
the Philippines
Grace Barretto-Tesoro, Associate Professor
University of the Philippines
The Archaeological Studies Program (ASP) at the
University of the Philippines is the only institution in
the Philippines offering archaeology as a formal degree
course. Since the establishment of ASP in 1995, throughits field schools and research projects, it has accumulatedhuge number of archaeological materials. The collection
continues to grow every year. The main challenge ASP
faced was the lack of storage space. ASP used to occupy
a small room in the basement of Palma Hall where theoffice, faculty space, library, and storage were located.
When cabinets became full of artefacts, these werethen stored in any available space in the basement. The
cultural materials were stored in the rooms or under thetables of project leaders who retrieved them. In 2010,
ASP acquired Villadolid Hall, located four blocks away.
The Villadolid Hall houses several laboratories andworkstations where artefacts from later excavations werestored. In time, storage space again became a concern.
The materials include but not limited to lithic tools,
shell artefacts, pottery fragments, porcelain sherds, glass
shards, bioarchaeological materials such as animal bones,
plant remains, and human remains; geological materials
i.e. sediments, rocks; metal artefacts, ornaments (beads,
glass bracelets, shell ornaments), clay tiles, and charcoal
samples. These archaeological materials are tangible
manifestations of Philippine heritage. Through proper
analyses, we derive information about the ancient andimmediate past. It is important to preserve these materials
because they are the only physical sources of Philippine
history beyond written records. Due to lack of sturdy
and proper storage containers and space, the materials
are compressed inside drawers, placed in straw sacks,
plastic bags, or opaque boxes. The condition does notfacilitate easy retrieval for analyses. Some artefacts haveremained in their field storages waiting to be processed.
Organic reference samples like seeds have decayed
because humidity and temperature are not regulated.
The labels are faded and information is incomplete. Mostof the time, only the site name, date of excavation, andtype of material are indicated outside the container. One
has to go through the whole box to look for a particularaccessioned artefact. It would be easier if accession
numbers are also written on the box.
In November 2012, the main ASP office transferred toAlbert hall just beside Villadolid Hall. The solution to thestorage problem is to create and reorganise a permanentand centralised storage space specially dedicated toarchaeological materials. The plan is to reorganise thecurrent storage system at ASP. The Human Osteology
Laboratory and Plant and Sediments Laboratory havetransferred to Albert Hall from Villadolid Hall creating
more space for the human remains and plants andsediments specimens. As of this writing, the Lithic
Laboratory and Zooarchaeology have not yet transferred.
We believed that the first step to the protection and39

conservation of archaeological materials is to store themin appropriate containers. As part of the preservation,
the artefacts and eco-facts are now photo-documented
and a centralised digital database is being proposed andcreated. Not all archaeological materials are durable,some are sensitive to light and air, and physical handling.
The backbone of archaeological research is dependent
on the conditions of artefacts. At the moment, we areassessing the current conditions of the artefacts andcategorise them according to their preservation needs.
The physical reorganisation, creation of a database, andphoto-documentation will ensure that the archaeologicalmaterials are stored properly to prevent further
deterioration. Artefacts are transferred to proper storage
containers to help preserve them and prolong their life
so future students of ASP, external collaborators, andother researchers will still have the opportunity to study
them. The results will further enrich our knowledge
and understanding of Philippine heritage. ASP is the
only institution which to date is the only academic unit
conducting archaeological research in the Philippines.
We envision ASP to be the centre of excellence in theregion producing high quality and high impact research.
This can be attained if the source of data – archaeologicalmaterials – are preserved well and received preventativecare. At the moment, we are reorganising the physicalstorage of the archaeological materials by storing themin appropriate containers that will preserve them longer
and to facilitate easy retrieval. We are examining theconditions of the artefacts, and categorising themaccording to their preservation needs and to propose
explicit methods for preservation. Artefacts are photodocumented as part of their analyses.
To date, the materials are categorised according to thenature of raw materials. Most of them have been cleaned
and accessioned in the field. They are currently stored
in boxes, plastics, and sacks. To enhance appearance,
artefacts that require further cleaning are rinsed, drybrushed, wiped with cloth depending on the material.
Shells and bones are brushed, ceramics gently brushed
or washed, fragile objects such as bones are dry-brushed.
We have replaced deteriorating containers with more
appropriate and durable ones such as hard plastic
containers. Boxes are relabeled with permanent markers
containing complete information of the contents such assite name and accession numbers. Agents of deteriorationsuch as mildew, moulds, insect infestation, and corrosion
are identified, initial preventative care shall be applied tothe artefacts, and further preservation and conservation
procedures shall be proposed. Multi-tiered steel andwooden shelves and cabinets were purchased to create
more space for sturdy multi-level storage space and to
avoid crowding. Silica gel is placed with organic objects
to prevent moisture from collecting inside containers. We
can also put organic items inside desiccating boxes which

The current storage conditions in the Human Osteology
Laboratory and Plant and Sediments Laboratory have far
improved since the transfer (Figure 1-3). Although thestorage conditions are not close to the ideal, we at ASP
constantly check the artefacts to arrest deterioration.
We hope in the future that full-time conservators will
be employed in ASP to solely work on preserving thearchaeological materials.

Philippines

we hope to purchase. Other organic materials are now
placed in plastic containers and placed in dry cabinetsthat regulate humidity. In the reference collection ofanimal bones and plants and seeds, industrial grade
camphor/menthol crystal counteracts the smell of the
fish bone collection. In the future we hope to purchase
TergAzyme, a detergent applied to bones before storage
removing the remaining fat from bones. It also serves as
insect repellant.

Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Jane Carlos and Myra LaLa for the photosof the laboratories.

Figure 1a: Human bone specimens before the transfer. These are thehuman remains that were in unlabeled crates (Photo by Grace BarrettoTesoro).

Figure 1b: Human bone specimens before the transfer. The humanbones in plastic bags with fading labels (Photo by Grace BarrettoTesoro)

Figure 2a: Human bone specimens stored in properly labelled crates
and containers placed in sturdy steel shelves in the new Human
Osteology Laboratory at the Albert Hall (Photo by Myra Lara)

Figure 2b: Human bones tranferred to plastic boxes with labels (Photoby Myra Lara)
Figure 3: Plant remains stored in properly labelled containers placedin a dry box to regulate humidity at the new Plant and Sediments
Laboratory at the Albert Hall (Photo by Jane Carlos).

40

SamoaSamoa

The Eleventh South Pacific Arts Festival in the Solomon lslands
Mainifo Viliamu, Senior Museum Officer
Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture
South Pacific Arts Festival is a way that Pacific Islanders
share, maintain and promote culture activities in our
region, and about twenty islands of the Pacific assembled
to a selected country to commemorate such event. It
took place every four years. Seventy six participants from
Samoa attended the eleventh South Pacific Arts Festival
in the Solomon Islands. The theme of this festival was“Culture in harmony with Nature”.
The hosts of the festival officially opened the ceremony
with a traditional opening where canoes were received
on shore the EA Oval in Honiara. Thousands of singing
Pacific Islands spread along the sandy beach to welcome
the fleet of va’a from their respective islands that included
our Samoa’s canoe Gaualofa. Our flag was hoisted
high beside those of other Pacific islands. Breathtaking
fireworks concluded the morning with Samoans stealing
the show with their slap dance.
The tattooing and carving were some of the arts Samoa
were displaying to commemorate the celebrations at
Honiara. The renowned tattooist, Peter Petelo Suluape
proudly laughed as he carried a relaxed conversation with
Fa’amatala Ainu’u who was getting his tattoo done for theFestival. A son to Su’a Suluape who handed down the art
to his children, the tattooist Peter Petelo highlighted theimportance of keeping true to one’s heritage. Peter wasof the opinion that when one did not realize his duty to
his family then one’s culture was not important. Many
people from around the Pacific spent hours outside thehut for the tattoo display while taking photos or merely
watching Peter Suluape and his assistants at work. Other
Samoan delegates including a liaison officer Mata’afa
Autagavaia sang for hours and clapped the ava while
Suluape’s skilful hands told a story about Samoa’s tattoo.
Pelenato Ioane and his colleague Ivo Galu of the
Leulumoega Fine Arts School are two of Samoa’s inspired
artists. Pelenato was teary eyed as he spoke about how

41

fascinated the Solomon islanders were of the carving
they chose. The two carvers were working on a piecethat depicted the navigation of Polynesians to Samoa. In
between curbs of the tall wooden sculptures, the artisansincluded mystical legends of Samoa. Pelenato said that
he felt blessed to be part of such a festival as he cansee how he himself can contribute to the artists’ world
with his own humble ideas. He shared the elei carving
with the Solomon islanders who were surprised to learnof the commercial advantages of carving in making elei
designs. Pelenato felt that giving these interested Solomon
islanders the hope to design and make a living of it, wasrewarding for him as an artist
Samoa’s dance group, Malofie, contributed to theshowcase of performances with a devoted spirit to the
Samoan fa’ataupati, ma’ulu’ulu, sasa and the renowned
and popular sivaafi. Malofie draws many fans to eachand every one of its performances. The group alsomodelled the fashion show designed and coordinated by
the talented ladies of the Samoa Mamanu Association.
Yesterday, the group was also admired by audiences
as they cooked a Samoan umu in style. Honourable
Associate Minister Tu’uuAnasi’iLeota graced the occasion
with his supervisory presence and many compliments
of fa’amalo to the boys and girls of the dance group.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Education
Sports and Culture, GalumalemanaNu’ufouPetaia wason the other side of the field, encouraging the carvers,
weavers and tattoo artists in their artistic endeavours.
The youngest and finely skilled weaver Delia Atkins
modestly states that she has yet to learn all the art ofweaving. She is blessed to be working beside andlearning from skilled weavers and siapo makers suchas AigaMalaulau, MauaiseasoLeota and SiaosinaTolo.
Similarly, young AnivaVa’alotu spoke enthusiastically of
the Youth Workshop

Samoa42

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka

Conservation of Vernacular Buildings and its Impact on Cultural Tourism with Special
Reference to Conservation of Dwelling House in Meemure Village, Kandy District, Sri Lanka
Sujeeva Kaushalyani Peiris Deraniyagala, Conservation Supervisor
Central Cultural Fund
Sri Lanka is a tropical island having a written history
goes back to more than 2,600 years. Island’s civilizationand culture thrived with the introduction of Buddhism in
3rd Century B.C. Apart from providing a fresh theology
to the natives it also had a great impact on society, art,architecture and culture of the people. Great kingdoms ofAnuradhapura and Polonnaruva flourished and sustained
for many centuries even if they were located in the driest
areas of the island mainly due to abilities and capacitiesof the rulers, and their enduring and supportive subjects.
It is written in ancient chronicles that these early
Kingdoms of Sri Lanka have been well planned with royalcomplexes, monasteries, houses of aristocrats, merchantsand ordinary people connected through efficient
infrastructural facilities. During the excavations carriedout by the Department of Archaeology and the Central
Cultural Fund, ample evidence to prove the fact was
found. Usually a city wall protected the inner core witha moat around it and the dwellings of ordinary people
were located outside. They treated the religious and royalcomplexes are the most important and build accordinglywith durable materials and intrinsic architectural detailing.
Most of these structures were built of stone or brick withminute details executed to the perfection. Many articles,
research studies and documentations have been carriedout on these grand and massive structures, but studies
or research on vernacular buildings are minimal or neverattempted in large scale.
It would be a difficult study even if it was attempted
mainly because those early vernacular buildings havebeen erased without a trace long time ago. We could
have some idea of them through ancient chronicles andmural paintings. But during deep excavations in the“Raja Rata” [area covered by the present north-central
province] various evidences were unearthed to establish
concrete ideas on the life style and architecture of theordinary people. It is evident that the people built theirhouses with materials freely available in the surroundingssuch as mud, clay and wood with grasses and leaves as
roofing materials. Even though these settlements were
humble compared to those of the affluent they always
responded to the nature that ideally suited to the climate
and environment. Time to time standards of ordinary
houses changed; mainly set by the rulers, not to offend
grandeur or that of the religious or royal establishments.
People were not allowed to build in permanent materials
like stone or brick and white washing. They did notallow exceeding some set heights or should not entertain
thoughts of having fine carvings or intricate architectural
mouldings. In simple words the ordinary people should
not try to overdo their house and should build it as plain
as possible. These rules and regulations resulted thedwelling of the ordinary man get destroyed easily without
being able to trace their form.

43

With the shift of kingdoms to the wet zone after
middle ages, the lifestyles of people changed and great
irrigation culture began to disappear since water was
more freely available than in the dry zone. Settlement
patterns of the people also changed according to theclimate and occupation of the people. But still they
are not allowed to surpass any features of the royal or
religious establishments. Some villages were nominatedfor supplying specific requirements of the King andnobles; potters, weavers, silversmiths, rattan and lacquer
workers, fishermen, farmers and vegetable growers etc.
As a result, villagers performing the similar tasks aregrouped together and built their houses in common form
and followed a definite pattern to support their interrelationships. Even today some of these assigned tasks
are performed by the descendants to some extent. But
with the in filtering “modern development” into these
traditional set-ups their lifestyles, traditional architecture
and industries have almost disappeared.
It is very difficult to convince the authorities or thepeople themselves in the importance of preserving suchtraditional set-ups because of the dynamic nature of thepresent “development pressure”. On the other hand it
is also unfair to trap these traditional people in theirpoor conditions without allowing them to enjoy modern
comforts of life in the name of preserving vanishingcultures. So it is high time and priority to understand therequirements and sensitivity of the traditional set-ups anddevelop a methodology to amalgamate the tourism factor
to ensure co-existence the two spheres.
Several such programmes were undertaken in the recent
past to up-grade the living conditions of traditional people
while maintaining their traditions. Good example is theactions taken to preserve “Veddah” – the indigenous
people of the country. Presently they are pocketed ina small area near the foot hills of Uva Mountains andsome in the Eastern Coast. These people lived in cavesin the dense forests, surviving by hunting for food andgathering of wild honey, fruits and yams until early 20th
century and also co-existed with the Sinahala or Tamilvillages that surround their forests. Gradually they mixed
with the villagers and almost entered into the civilized
circle by through social interactions with the outside
world. But the elders of “veddah” society still uphold
their traditions and frequently fight with authorities toensure their sustenance. Local and foreign tourists alsofrequent these forest villages and a cultural centre andmuseum is established to facilitate the visitors. As a result,the sensitive nature of the ancient environment is fading
and it is a matter of time that these villages also enter into
the modern society, which is not unreasonable.
Apart from undergraduate dissertations on traditional
village systems done time to time, there was not a single

In this context the Kandy Project of the Central CulturalFund is attempting to conserve the only one traditional
type house that remains in the village of Meemure in
Kandy District. Meemure is a small village isolated fromthe “civilized world” until a decade ago. It is some
70 km east of Kandy and reached by very hazardousand difficult route through mountains and valleys. Thisdifficulty kept the intruders at bay and helped to maintainthe village’s identity.
Its traditional houses bordered with unique stone built
boundary walls and dreamy environment was wellpreserved even if their lifestyle changed gradually into amodern one, which is inevitable and should be accepted.
Most of the villagers are farmers and the people believed
their existence in Meemure is continuous and goesbeyond the Kandyan Period [15th to 19th century A.D.].
One documentary programme on National Television
exposed the village to the world and then came theturning point and the unnecessary “development” seeped
into the ancient set-ups and could not be stopped orcurtailed.
Presently there is only one house without many changes
apart from the roofing material. Its originality of form isstill preserved with a central court yard, and a small front
verandah. The house is built using mud and clay andthe original roof had weaved coconut leaves and then it

was covered with clay tiles but at present it is corrugatedsheets. All other houses have been changed and“modernized”. It is a timely move taken by the CCF toconserve the house and set an example for preservationof vernacular buildings as well.

Sri Lankasystematic attempt to document or preserve them. As aresult, numbers of village traditions were vanished during
the recent past. One such example is Maha Kirinda
ancient settlement, in North Western Province, which had
a unique house pattern and a village system, which has
vanished during the past three decades.

These culturally and environmentally sensitive areas
attract tourists, both local and foreign in large numbers.
This trend developed in the recent past with more tourists
opts for eco-tourism packages rather than traditional
beaches or heritage sites. They prefer excursions that vex
their muscles rather than going through guided tours.
Traditional villages like Meemure pose very attractive forthis growing need and authorities should take precautions
to develop a comprehensive tourism management plan tominimize the adverse effects.
But the authorities should also gratify the sacrifice they
are making towards continuing traditions. As membersof the modern society they would prefer to dwell inhouse with all amenities that others are enjoying. It
is also important to control impact of the tourism
within the sensitive areas like this if tourism promotion
is encouraged. In the Netherlands and some otherdeveloped countries we experience living museum typecommunities, where volunteers come and make the built
up traditional environment living. But this would not
be practical in a country like Sri Lanka and we at least
should respect these village people who give us morethan we deserve; because we have already broken up
with the past and traditions long time ago while asking
them to freeze theirs for our posterity.

The village is located under foothills of a high mountain range

A location map of Meemura

The high mountain range surrounding Meemure making it the remotest
village in the island

44

Sri Lanka
45

Paddy terraces of Meemure

Paddy terraces surrounded by mountains

A view of the house

An elevation of the house

A plan of the house

A section of the house

A winding path between stone walls; a feature unique to Meemure

The main entrance of Meemure Ihala Walawwa

Sri Lanka

Unique stone boundary walls of Meemure

A traditional house and stone walls of Meemure

Deteriorated walls

Traditional kitchen utensils in the house

Details of a side door

46

Thailand
Pongthorn Hiengkaew, Conservation Architect
Office of Archaeology, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture
Introduction
In addition to structures and architectural components
of historic buildings, decorations are important partsfulfilling the buildings in aesthetics and contents. The
decorations are, for example, colouring, colour glass
mosaic decorating, gilding, and painting. The fundamentalrole of decorations is protecting architectural components
surface. Furthermore, the decorations play a role inincreasing attraction, and creating symbolic meaning(1). The latter two functions produce significance anddistinction of individual historic building. Therefore, thedecorations of a historic building can explain contents
and characteristics of the building to people who see it.
The decorations of historic building are delicate andare easy to decay, damage, disappear, and modify.
The destruction and the loss of the decorations cause
the deficit in contents and characteristic of the historicbuilding. In order to conserve it correctly, the remains
have been used as fundamental information for a study
and analysis. Its data will serve to conserve the remains,repair the damage, and reconstruct the lost items.
All of the conditions should be restored in a proper
conservation process to maintain and continue thevalue of physical appearance and essence of the historicbuilding decorations.
The objective of the paper is to propose a point of view
and understanding of decorations in shrine area at Wat
Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara. The whole picture of
the temple was presented in the previous report (2).
Restoration of the decorations in shrine area at Wat Borom
Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara
Wat Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara, a royal temple in
Bangkok, was built in 1832. The temple was built underpatronage of King Rama IV and was the evidence of Thai
society adaptation to the western influence at that time. In
2009, Wat Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara cooperated
with Fine Art Department and Crown Property Bureau
in restoring shrine area of the temple. The restoration
project was divided into four phases. The first was therestoration of Ubosot, main hall of the temple, during
2009-2010. The second was the restoration of two small
pavilions besides Ubosot in 2011. The third was therestoration of the entrance pavilion and main stupa in
2012, and the last will be the restoration of the gallery
and surrounding of the shrine area starting in 2013.
During surveying deteriorated Ubosot decorations,the original evidence was unexpectedly found. It was
overlaid with materials on several previous redecorations.
The detection led to building a conceptual framework of
restoration of the whole shrine area. The restoration ofdeteriorated Ubosot decorations started by examining andrecording each layer of decorations. The examination and47

recording were done until the original layer appeared.
The data analysis was conducted on the original layer,
and then a reconstruction plan was established. The
plan was considered to be the most suitable way of
restoration. The original layer was preserved under the
new reconstruction layer. The new layer was appliedby using original materials, patterns, and techniques.
This process was also conducted in other phases of therestoration project.
For restoration of Ubosot (phase 1), main colour schemeof mural painting was found: the gilded principal Buddha
image of the temple in the background of dark blue.
The dark-blue colour emphasized the bright yellowof the gilded image vividly from the background andgenerated magnificent appearance. Moreover, the golden
pattern on the light green ceiling produced brightness
and spaciousness over the gilded principal Buddha
image. Colour scheme of green-blue of Ubosot hall
space was in a cool tone creating the calm atmosphere.
At the same time, details on mural painting informed
about Buddhism philosophy. The colour and the story
influenced the mind of people who saw it and induced
them to respect the place. This was an example of theresults of the ceiling restoration so that we can restore
the original atmosphere and made people understand themeaning of the main hall. Before launching the project,
the colour of the ceiling was dark brown made from theprevious repairing. The evidences of using green-bluecolor scheme and western design in patterns were uniquethat we found in using as the link of the each decoration
together.
For the restoration of pavilions besides Ubosot (phase 2)
and the entrance pavilion and the main stupa (phase 3),
former knowledge and experience from restoration of
Ubosot (phase 1) were applied. After finishing restorationin phase 2 and 3, the relationship in colour scheme andpattern characteristic among decorations of Ubosot,
pavilions besides Ubosot, entrance pavilions and stupa
evidently appeared. The green-blue colour scheme andthe western design character in patterns were in harmony
among three phases.
From the restoration of decorations in all three phases,
we have learned that the original decorations of theshrine area at Wat Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara
were unique designs. It revealed significant changes intaste of art attraction that was influenced by the westerncountries. The change in decorations was an important
tool to transmit a new idea of Buddhism reformation
by King Rama IV during that period. In architectural
decoration, using of colour scheme in each building ofshrine area was the conceptual framework in connecting
all buildings together that was not found before the earlynineteenth century in Thailand.

ThailandThailandThailand

Essence and Interpretation of Historic Building Decorations:
A Case Study of Shrine Area in Wat Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Mrs. Kiriya Chayakul Sittiwang,
Fine Art Academic of Office of Archaeology for providing
academic book for this article.

Reference
1.น ายบัณฑิต อินทร์คง การศ กึ ษางานจิตรกรรมฝาผนังในพระอุโบสถวัดใหญ่สวุ รรณารามจ ั งหว ั ดเพชรบ ุ ร ี ว ิ ท ยาน ิ พ นธ ์ ห ล ั กส ู ต รศ ิ ล ปกรรมศาสตร ์ ม หาบ ั ณฑ ิ ตสาขาประวั ต ิศ าสตร์ ส ถาป ัตยกรรม ภาคว ิ ช าสถาป ัตยกรรม บั ณ ฑ ิตว ิ ทยาลั ยมหาวิทยาลัยศ ลิ ปากร พ.ศ. 2543 หน้า 292, 305-306.
2.	Hiengkaew P. “Restoration of Ubosot (Main Hall) of
Wat Borom Nivasana Raja Vora Vihara, Bangkok.”
ACCU Nara International Correspondent. The Eighth
Regular Report. Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office, Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for
UNESCO (ACCU). p 36-38.

Fig. 1. Lay out of shrine area of Wat Borom Nivasana.
Ubosot is in blue (phase 1); two pavilions beside
Ubosot are in light green (phase 2); Entrance pavilion
and main stupa are in dark green (phase 3), and Gallery
is in light blue (phase 4).

Fig. 2. The exterior decorations of Ubosot before
restoration in 2009 (phase 1); corridor ceiling and its
wooden frames panel was red and green. Gable andportico of windows and doors were decorated with gilt
stucco and colour glass mosaic.

Fig. 3. The decoration of corridor ceilingbefore restoration

Fig. 4. The evidence of the original decorationof Ubosot corridor ceiling was found under
several previous redecoration materials.

Fig. 5. Processes of corridor ceiling restoration work;
Examination and record of each layer of decorations

Fig. 6. The reconstruction model of the original decoration layer

ThailandSummary
From the case study, decorations of historic building
were important components for explaining characteristic,
essence, and chronicle of the building. It is necessary
to understand the decorations and to use the proper
restoration process in order that historic building ismaintained magnificence, meaning and values accuratelyfrom the past to the future.

48

Thailand
Fig. 7. Decoration of the corridor ceiling after
restoration

Fig. 9. Tracing for the light green
layer original decoration of interior
Ubosot ceiling.

Fig. 8. The gable restoration work; The original materials in white and previous redecoration
green glass mosaic were preserved under the new colour of white glass mosaic.

Fig. 10. The mural painting of Ubosot in western style

Fig. 12-12.1. A pavilion beside Ubosot before and after restoration in 2011 (phase 2)

49

Fig. 11. After redecoration of interiorof Ubosot; the original atmosphereand meaning returned.

Fig. 13. Evidence of the original decorationof interior ceiling of a pavilion beside
Ubosot; It was found to be a light green
colour under previous redecoration materials.

Thailand

Fig. 14-14.1. The interior decoration of a pavilion beside Ubosot
before and after restoration

Fig. 15-15.1. The entrance pavilion, outside and inside before restoration in2012 (phase 3)

Fig. 16-16.1. Evidences of the original decoration of the entrance pavilion

Fig. 19. An example ofthe significance of historicbuilding decorations.
From the study of cachetof King Rama IV, thebackground colour of thecachet was orange that
represented the day of hisbirthday, Thursday. From
restoration process, theoriginal background colourof the cachet was found in
the red glass mosaic thatwas under the blue. The
blue background did notinform the true meaningof the cachet. Therefore,
the background colour ofcachet of King Rama IV
has been restored to theoriginal.
Fig. 17.
A drawing of original
patterns of ceiling decoration

Fig. 18. Cachet of King Rama IV’s Queen, designed in a westerncharacter by pearl inlay technique,
was on the door of the main stupa.

50

Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan

Field Conservation Experience in Buddhist Site of Karatepa in 2012
Akmaljon Ulmasov, Researcher
Fine Arts Scientific Research Institute, Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan
Introduction
Karatepa was the biggest monastery of the Buddhist period
in Termez. The formation of monastery was at a place ofKaratepa in the 2nd century AD. Karatepa was one of the
sanctuaries, erected during the years of the Kanishka reign.
The total area of Karatepa was almost three hectares built
on a hill. Buildings were located on the earth, also there
were underground premises. At the center of some yards,
there were built small mortars (stupas). The sanctuary andits verandahs were decorated with colorful paintings, aswell as images of Buddha and bodhisattvas. The walls of
sanctuary were designed with the figures of men carrying
presents, also with the local Buddhist legends. Meantime,
Buddhist statues were made of stone, lime and clay, andcapitals were with a head of an animal; many small artifacts
as terracotta and ceramic wares were found and studied
by scientists. The most important fact in Karatepa was theancient inscription, which was written on the surface ofdishes with in black ink with ancient Indian alphabets as“kharoshthi” and “brahmi”. They are in religious contents:
quotations from Buddhist relics, about presents for themonastery and the persons who made these presents.
Karatepa functioned as a Buddhist sanctuary till the end of
the 4th century, but in the beginning of the 5th century in
the result of invasion Sassanid troops, it was destroyed toruins (Fig. 1-2).
Practice works
In the field season 2012, excavations focused on thecomplexes of "U" and "Ya" at the south hill of Karatepe.
The archeological excavations have revealed numerous
artifacts such as potteries, coins, fragments of sculptures
and wall paintings. Fragments of wall paintings have been
investigated and then underwent conservation. Fragments
consist of three different pieces by size and content:
Fragment A. Dimensions: 25 × 24 cm and 10 cm inthickness. On the surface there was the image on a whitebackground framed in red. In the upper corner of the rightside of the fragment, there was a part of the ornament,
painted in red color (ocher). In some parts of the fragment,
the traces of some ornament were left on the surface. The
structure of a paint (or drawing?) cannot be confirmed.
Fragment B. Dimensions: 14 × 11 cm and 5.0 cm inthickness. It depicted the circular whose frame was madewith red ocher. In the upper part of it, there was a thin

Fig.1. A schematic location of ground-cave complexes on the south hillof Karatepa.

51line, traced in black. Inside, along the edge of a large circle,
there were small circles painted by thin, black lines.
Fragment C. Dimensions: 0.7 x 0.8 cm and 2.0 cm inthickness. There was a part of the red tape (Fig. 3-4 A, B,
and C).
The paintings were applied to the surface. The surface
was made of a mixture of clay with addition of chopped
straw without priming. Mineral-based pigments from thevegetable glue were used in painting. Before drawing wasdone, the surface was leveled and smoothed. Because of
the fragmented silos on the described parts, it was very
difficult to make out the image. Apparently, all threepieces were connected and form a single composition. The
presence of a frame made it possible to assume that thestory was devoted to Buddhist themes. On similar paintingsof Karatepa and other Buddhist monuments, usually overthe head of the Buddha circles were depicted. Setting to a
description of images aside, let us move to the main issue,that is, the process of conservation.
In the first phase, photography and description of thefragments were held. Then fragments were cleaned fromthe dirt with distilled water and mechanically cleaned
with a brush. After the cleaning, the surface was fixed
for further safety and stability. For fixing, 5% solution of
Paraloid B72 acrylic adhesive in acetone was used. The
edges were rough and fragmented, so to strengthen, theso-called "paste", consisting of a solution of polymer glue
and pulverized clay was used. After filling the damaged
edges, surfaces were repeatedly reinforced by polymer
mortar adhesive (Fig. 5).
As stated above, the fragments were very thick, and theirbase, which had been made of a mixture of clay andstraw, was not strong enough. In order to increase theirstrength and to reduce the risk during transportation, it wasnecessary to remove the extra layer of a clay base. Before
starting the work, the front surface of the fragments wascovered with a layer of foil, and then the plaster solution
was poured. Once the plaster hardened, and formed theshape, the fragment was placed the back side up. Then theexcess clay layer on the back side was gradually removed,
so that its thickness, comprising a layer of the paint, was 1.5
cm (Fig. 6-7).

Fig.2. A general view of the complex“U”on the south hill of Karatepa.

During these operations, participants of the archaeological
expedition found fragments of wall paintings, located ona large site. Visiting the site of the discovery, I found thatthe paintings were in a very bad condition. This is because,
first of all: these paintings were applied in a wall niche,
and it fell to the ground, apparently, in a face down. In
consequence, the images were badly damaged. Secondly,
archaeologists removed all the ground together with a layerof a foundation without noticing it, leaving only a layer ofa paint. Despite this, all possible measures to save murals
were taken. First, as a rule, the surface was cleaned of dirtwith a soft brush. Then, the area where the paint layer
was preserved, was fixed by some fluid of the polymer
adhesive. But, despite of this effort, removal of all paintings
was impossible, because the surface on which a layer ofpaint was applied, was very tight and a binder between
was lost by time (Fig. 11-13).
Even if archaeologists had more time, still it would not
be possible to preserve all the paintings on site. But, inthe hope of continuing the conservation work of these«variable» arts, we have left them underground to the next
field season.

Uzbekistan

After removal of excess clay, the back side was fixed
several times with 5% solution of the polymer adhesive
Paraloid B72. After drying the adhesive, the back surface ofthe substrate fragments was glued with a special fabric asadditional reinforcement. Thus, the fragments were treatedwith all conservation work possible in the field (Fig. 8-10).

Conclusion
I should add that when we were doing these works, wewere limited to technical and chemical resources. We hopethat in the near future we will be able not only to conduct
the preliminary conservation work in the field and in thelaboratory, but also to study objects at the professional
level with the help of modern equipment. As for the
fragments on which conservation work was not completed
for any reasons, I think, specialists/restorers should be
involved in work. They can manage to provide the first aid
to archaeologists in case of "variable" findings, one type of
which is the wall painting.

C

A

B

Fig.3. Fragment A, B, and C before conservation

Fig.4. Fragment A and B. Edge profile (layer).

Fig. 5-7. Processes of work: filling, forming, and cutting.

Fig. 8-10. Processes of work: fixing and sticking after conservation.

Fig. 11-13. A wall painting on the site: opening, cleaning and fixing.

52

Viet Nam
Viet Nam

The 47th Archaeology Conference 2012 in Hanoi
Nguyen Chi Cong, Staff
Center for Preservation of the Co Loa Historical Site and Hanoi Citadel
The 47th Archaeology Conference 2012 was held on 27
September in Hanoi. At the conference in 2012, there
were more than 480 new archaeological findings andstudies reported about the Stone Age, the Metal Age andits history. New and valuable materials and documentation
have been provided for archaeology, history and cultural
studies making an effective contribution in building
documentation, planning, preservation, improvement,
promotion of the value of Vietnam’s relics and heritage.
The most remarkable archaeological finding among
them was the study of the cave system which has
been continuously developed for 20,000 - 4,000 years
ago in ‘Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex’ (Ninh
Binh province). This finding has contributed to an
important criterion for the international experts to makeconsideration and decision to submit Trang An Heritage
documents for being inscribed on the World Heritage list
to be held in 2013. This study not only clarifies how theVietnamese primitive people lived in ‘Ninh Binh’ province

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but it also make an effective and positive contribution
for protection of natural environment; caves are potential
resources for tourism development and valuable inrespect of education and culture.
In addition to that, other valuable findings and studies
have also been reported by other localities in theconference. One of them was a stele dating back to 601;
the stone stele in the oldest date of Vietnam in ‘Bac
Ninh’ province, which recommended to learn about a big
center of the country - Long Bien center, famous in thehistory. On a small ceramic piece in Ly dynasty at 62 –64 ‘Tran Phu’ street (Hanoi),“Động Nhân cung”, the nameof a big palace of Thái Long was written and it showeda significant evidence that confirmed the place of theimperial citadel under ‘Ly’ dynasty in the center of Hanoi
which had been reported by the scientists before. It
verified the report and the production of the high quality
pottery serving the imperial palace’s activities under ‘Ly’
dynasty.

Published by
Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office,Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
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) 2013

Pakistan / Philippines / Samoa

公益財団法人 ユネスコ・アジア文化センター
文化遺産保護協力事務所
Cultural Heritage Protection Cooperation Office,Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)

Sri Lanka / Thailand / Uzbekistan / Viet Nam