Archaeologists Start Working On Phase 2 Excavation Of Trenggalek Gondang Sites, Focus On Structure Angles

Archaeologists carry out an evacuation process for cultural heritage objects at the Gondang Site, Tugu District, Trenggalek (ANTARA/HO-Denmas Aby)

JATIM - A number of archaeologists from the Cultural Preservation Center for Region XI East Java (East Java) began to carry out phase two excavations of the Gondang Site located in Gondang Village, Tugu District, Trenggalek Regency.

Head of the East Java BPK Excavation Team, Muhammad Ichwan, explained that the follow-up excavation this time was focused on identifying and opening the corners of the structure.

"Hopefully, with the determination of the angle, site plans and their shape can be forecasted," said Ichwan in Trenggalek, East Java, Sunday, November 19, quoted by Antara.

He explained that the second phase of the excavation was scheduled to last for six days. The excavation followed up on the findings of the ancient brick structure which was first discovered by residents in 2018.

In the early stages of excavation, 16 excavation boxes were carried out with the findings of six statues. For this reason, in the second phase of excavation, a wider excavation will be carried out so that the entire structure of ancient bricks can be seen.

"Galian bagian angk utara dan timur sudah sampai titik bawah. Jadi, kita fokus pelebaran," katanya.

According to Ichwan, the findings of the ancient brick structure were fairly shallow. This refers to the discovery of the top structure of the excavation results that are not too deep.

The brick on the structure is in the form of a rectangular shape and has a thickness of between 8-9 centimeters. The brick with that shape is commonly found in buildings before Majapahit.

"The ancient brick structure that was excavated was not far from residential areas. In fact, the location of one of the sides was only about 10 meters from one of the residents' houses. The excavations to the south and west did not reach the residents' houses," he said.

The first phase of the excavation around July 2022, the joint team found five statues, two of which were found by residents in 2018 and ancient brick structures measuring jumbo.

From the excavation, the team believed that the Gondang Site was older than the Majapahit Kingdom, which was estimated in the ancient Mataram era of the X century.

The ancient jumbo-sized brick structure is thought to be the foot of a temple.

"The size of the temple is 6x6 meters. Then the inner stone layer found is nine layers. The contest is quite large, from the dimensions it is different from the Majapahit residence. Maybe this is older," said BPK East Java Intermediate Expert Cultural Pamong Mohammad Said.