ARCHÆOLOGY
A MONTHLY EXCAVATION OF ODDITIES AND ANTIQUITIES
A FABLED KINGDOM
The Srivijaya empire was a fabled kingdom known in ancient times as the Island of Gold, a civilisation with untold wealth that explorers tried in vain to find long after its unexplained disappearance from history around the 14th century. The site of Srivijaya may finally have been found by local fishing crews carrying out night-time dives on the Musi River near Palembang on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Their extraordinary catches are treasures ranging from a lifesize eighth-century Buddhist statue to jewels worthy of kings.
“In the last five years, extraordinary stuff has been coming up,” said maritime archæologist Dr Sean Kingsley. “Coins of all periods, gold and Buddhist statues, gems, all the kinds of things that you might read about in and think it was made up. It’s actually real.” He described the trove as definitive evidence that Srivijaya was a “waterworld”, its people living on the river like modern boat
