History – Libassonline.com|| Discovery of the Ancient Punjulharjo Boat Rembang or better known as the Ancient Rembang Boat which is Older than Borobudur Temple!! Rembang City on the North coast of Java Island holds a lot of history and many relics of the Chinatown village, in the Lasem area which is close to Rembang and many more ancient artifact discoveries. As a place on the North coast close to Lasem, it is likely that this city used to be a transit port for traders from outside the region before going to the kingdoms in Java in its quite old era and time. A village on the north coast of Java which has many salt ponds as a source of livelihood for residents suddenly became famous after the discovery of an ancient boat frame. The village is called Punjulharjo which is located in Rembang District, Rembang Regency, Central Java.
The story began on July 26, 2008, when residents of Punjulharjo village accidentally found a boat wreck at a depth of two meters in an east-west position, when they were about to dig the ground to make a salt pond. This discovery also attracted the attention of various related parties. Among them are the Central Java Archaeological Heritage Conservation Center (BP3), the Yogyakarta Archaeological Center, the Borobudur Heritage Conservation Center, the Directorate of Underwater Heritage, who reviewed the location for research and preservation efforts on the boat. From the study of archaeologists, it was reported that based on its construction, it is estimated that the ancient object is a traditional boat from the Nusantara region, and not a type of boat originating from China. While the boat material is a type of ironwood that is widely found on the island of Kalimantan.
Ancient Artifacts with Chinese Ornaments Reported by Punjulharjo-rembang.desa.id, Thursday, (06/11) initially this discovery was estimated to be from the Majapahit era, but after going through a carbon dating study, the results showed that the ship came from the 7th century AD, older than the Borobudur Temple which was only built around the 9th century AD. This proves that this country actually had great power and was quite respected in the past in building the nation’s civilization. This period coincided with the early development of ancient Mataram in Java and the early Srivijaya period in Sumatra. Inside the boat, which was still intact and in complete condition, were also found the head of a statue of a Chinese woman made of stone, a broken wooden stick about 40 centimeters long, human bones, and a number of kitchen utensils. Meanwhile, according to the official website cagarbudaya.kemdikbud.go.id, it is not yet certain whether this boat was a trading ship between Java and Sumatra.
However, based on the size and proportion of the boat, which is about 15 meters long and about 5 meters wide (so the proportion is 1:3), the possibility of it being a trading boat is very possible, even for sailing long distances. Now the site has been designated as a national cultural heritage through the Decree of Determination PM.57/PW.007/MKP/2010 on June 22, 2010 with the name Rembang Ancient Boat.
