About four to two millennia BC ago, the people of Indonesia lived in semi-permanent villages. Agriculture was in a nascent stage. However, the prehistoric remains that are encountered over the entire archipelago reflect the existence of societies, which had acquired craftsmanship in certain areas, particularly metallurgy, led a religious life focused on the worship of ancestors, had a regional barter trade, a complex burial system, and equally complex ceremonial activities. The historic period in Indonesia, as is generally believed, began with Indian cultural influences.

Carrying a selection of articles, this volume presents an overview on recent studies in archaeology of Indonesia, largely from Bali and Java – the two islands that give unambiguous evidence of Indian culture. Beginning with papers on Indonesian prehistory, the volume presents a synoptic account of the period, and how it shows the potentials for sustained evolvement into the historic period. It examines several examples of new finds related to prehistoric burial systems, offers demographic interpretations of human remains found at a Bronze-Iron Age site in Bali, and also studies the megalithic remains.

The volume then comes to the next phase of history – showing how, with international trading system, Indonesia not only had certain initial experiences in state formation, but also had an encounter with Hinduism and Buddhism. It studies, for the first time in Indonesian archaeology, the Hindu-Buddhist sites in Java, specially in their relation to ecological setting. The volume, additionally, includes studies relating to ancient sculptures (of Hindu divinities, like Siva and Mother Goddess Durga), iconography, musical instruments, metal technology, inscriptions, land ownership, functions of land in ancient Balinese social and administrative system, and its subak system – the social system for the management of rice-field irrigation. Relevantly, the Subak system is still in vogue in the island of Bali. The papers have been written by well-known Indonesian archaeologists.

Dr Edi Sedyawati, (b. 1938), is a renowned Indonesian archaeologist: formerly Director General, Ministry of Culture. Currently, she is Professor of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters/Cultural Studies, University of Indonesia, Jakarta. At this very university, Professor I Wayan Ardika is Dean, Faculty of Letters.