Up to 15 new prehistoric sites have been discovered recently in Purbalingga regency, Central Java. The head of Purbalingga administration's Media Information Division, Prayitno, said the sites were spread across the upper stream sections of the Klawing and Tungtung Gunung Rivers and the up and downstream areas of the Laban and Kuning Rivers. "The regency administration is currently asking experts of related fields to study the sites more thoroughly," Prayitno said. He said from the 15 sites, hundreds of prehistoric stones and artifacts had been found and are currently being kept in a workshop in Pasir Luhur, West Java. Among the findings, said Prayitno, are the remains of bracelets and axes believed to be from the Neolithic age.
     The discoveries were made possible thanks to cooperation between archeologists at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Purwokerto-based Jendral Sudirman University. The archelogists who made the discoveries, Prayitno said, were Sudjatmiko and Budi Brahmantyo. Prayitno said the ITB research team had predicted that the sites along the upper stream of Klawing Rivers were remains from the Neolithic Age, while those in the downstream were believed to be from the Palaeolithic Age. "The results of the research are really spectacular, though so far the administration and the public have not had a chance to see them," Prayitno said.

Source: The Jakarta Post (8 July 2009)