Tulungagung (Antaranews Jatim) - A farmer in Ngrejo village, Tulungagung regency, East Java, accidentally found a historic object in the form of a god statue while clearing his cornfield in a formerly protected forest area.
As the official statement of Cultural Heritage Preservation and Cultural Heritage of Tulungagung Winarto Regency on Sunday, the statue measuring 50 x 80 centimeters was found Surani in the pent-up condition in the realm.
"Pak Surani and some farmers are sitting around when they accidentally see a stone structure resembling a human head poking above the ground," said Winarto told the site's discovery chronology last weekend.
Do not wait long, Surani assisted some other farmers then do the excavation and found the stone structure shaped statue of god deity.
The news of the archaeological site's findings quickly circulated so that other residents, including activist Pokdarwis (tourism awareness group) Ngrejo, came and conducted a search of the ancient artifacts.
There are several other structures of rock then found not far from the point where the findings of the statue, including the form of peduncle (foundation pole building), wells or petirtan small and a number of ancient pottery.
"Saturday (2/3) yesterday from the department of Budpar together with R & D of Bappeda Tulungagung field verification to record the initial findings," said Winarto.
But he has not confirmed the type and age of the statue that is now stored in the house Surani Ngrejo Village, Tanggunggunung District.
Tulungagung Regency Government will still coordinate Culture Preservation Hall (BPCB) Trowulan to further examine the statue of the god, as well as doing excavations around the location of the findings.
"Originally we suspect this is a kind of agastya statue because the structure is similar, but after we discussed it with archaeological friends, the initial conjecture conical to Nandiswara statue," said staff of BPCB Trowulan who served as the manager of Museum Wajakensis Tulungagung, Hariyadi.
But he asserted the conclusions are still initial allegations. Certainty about the type of statue and whether there are other sites around the site will be further investigated by a team of archaeologists from BPCB Trowulan, as already coordinated by the Tulungagung regency through the local Culture and Tourism Office.
"While waiting for our BPCB Trowulan team, through the tourism office and the village government has asked Pokdarwis and Ngrejo Village residents to help secure the location of the possibility of destruction or looting of ancient objects that are still left behind," said Hariyadi.