Southeast Asia Source of Global Civilization?
Stephen Oppenheimer’s Eden in the East: The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia, is a controversial book. Oppenheimer who is British and holds a doctorate in genetics is of the opinion that the continent of Southeast Asia, or to be more precise the Sunda Continental Shelf, was in the past the place of origin of the oldest civilization in the world. Tens of thousands of years ago, when the ice caps were melting and submerging parts of the Sunda Continental Shelf, thereby causing Sumatra, Java and Borneo to became separated from the Southeast Asian landmass, the area was already inhabited. It was this society that introduced the world to the story of the Great Flood. Among the many variations of this story are the story of Noah’s flood and the Gilgamesh of Sumeria.
Tempo interviewed Oppenheimer and has also written about the explorers who are searching for the ruins of a city at the bottom of the Java Sea, to try to prove Oppenheimer’s thesis. This edition of Tempo explores the research findings of Professor Sangkot Marzuki of the Eijkman Institute and his fellow Asian geneticists who are attempting to map the genetic dispersal of Asian man. It is interesting that Professor Sangkot’s theory ‘Out of Sundaland’ could well provide support for Oppenheimer’s hypothesis.
February 2, 2011
THE roof of the building was quite unusual. The Toraja traditional or adat house is called a tongkonan and is one of the most easily recognized traditional pieces of architecture in Indonesia. The material used to build such houses is a wood locally known as uru wood which has the reputation of being as long-lasting as teak. Such houses always face north. Their roofs are always curved.
Despite living in the mountains, the Torajans’ beautifully
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