PERHAPS a 13th century lost town in remote East Java can speak about us.

Its remains can be found in a field in the Trowulan area of Mojokerto. Over an area 63 meters square, beneath low roofs, are rows of excavations, each pit only about half a meter deep. But the dark soil seems to be protecting something just suggested there: traces of houses, floors, polished earthenware, steps, drains, coins, thousands of artifacts…

Houses, not temples,