The Twilight of Prehistoric Day

The event commemorated annually in the world of Indonesian archaeology is the prehistoric day, which falls on June 14, taken from the date June 14, 1913, when Oudheidkundige Diens (Heritage Service) was officially established by the Dutch East Indies Government to perform two functions simultaneously, namely the preservation of archaeological heritage and archaeological research.

Etimologically, Archaeology or the science of antiquities comes from the Greek language, where archeo means "ancient" and logos means "science." Terminologically, Archaeology refers to the study of social and cultural aspects of the past through material remains with the aim of reconstructing and explaining the events that occurred and elucidating their significance. Material remains or artifacts left by humans are important data in obtaining information to understand past events. Archaeology is the science that studies human culture of the past through systematic examination of material data left before writing was known (prehistory), as well as after writing was known (history), and also studies contemporary culture known as modern material culture research (Nurkidam & Herawaty, 2019).

Archaeology is a science that is closely related to history. This can be proven as both archaeology and history reveal human life in the past. However, archaeology and history also differ in the sources of data used. History relies more on written sources, while archaeology primarily uses data from physical objects in the form of cultural remains obtained through excavation processes, making archaeology a cornerstone for historical research (Uka S, 2009). Archaeology seeks to reveal past human life by reconstructing cultural history, reconstructing ways of human life, and reconstructing cultural processes through the forms, functions, and processes of making, using, discarding, and recycling cultural objects as well as their context with the surrounding environment (Ardiwidjaja, Roby, 2018).

Paul Bahn states that archaeology is a systematic study of the past based on material culture with the aim of uncovering, explaining, and classifying cultural remains, describing the forms and behaviors of past societies, and understanding how they were formed and reconstructing them as they were. In Indonesia, archaeology initially studied prehistory and then developed to study the kings from the Hindu period of Indonesia (Koentjaraningrat, 2000). The science of archaeology in Indonesia did not stop at that time. After the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom period, the cultural divisions in Indonesia continued with the Islamic and Colonial periods.

In subsequent developments, archaeology studies human life in both the past and modern times, emphasizing the relationship between cultural objects and human behavior across all space and time. It explains that archaeology is the science that studies the culture of past societies through their remains. Although it examines something that has already occurred, archaeology is actually very dynamic. This dynamism occurs because research on archaeological data has not yet revealed everything (Akbar, 2010).

Contemporary archaeologists have exemplified how the study process to uncover past life is conducted through existing remains. The history of this study has also become part of a history in itself. Technological advancements are part of the awareness process to facilitate archaeological studies.

              The twilight of prehistoric day serves as a reminder in interpreting and revisiting the periodization of human civilization. Ancient life for the present will be referred to as ancient by civilizations in the future. If prehistory is considered a period of civilization before the advent of writing and history as a period of civilization after the advent of writing, does this mean there will be a new period in the future, a period of civilization with a focus that no longer uses writing but returns to symbolic culture, codes, and images?

The efforts to uncover archaeological remains from every period of civilization that have occurred over time may eventually be complete. In the future, archaeologists may focus solely on excavating the remains of contemporary civilization, as what has been discovered, interpreted, and preserved from past remains has been accomplished and fulfilled by contemporary archaeologists. Will the difficulties faced by archaeologists in preserving past remains also be experienced by archaeologists in the future? The twilight of the current archaeologists' duties, which have bequeathed knowledge, becomes both a resource and a relief for future archaeologists. The repetitions to reinterpret past remains will not continue indefinitely if contemporary archaeologists have worked thoroughly.

References

Akbar, Ali. 2010. Contemporary Archaeology. Jatinangor: Alqoprint

Ardiwidjaja, Roby. 2018. Archeotourism Developing the Appeal of Cultural Heritage Preservation, 1st edition. Deepublish: Yogyakarta

Koentjaraningrat. 2000. Introduction to Anthropology. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Nurkidam, A & Hasmiah Herawaty. 2019. Archaeology as an Introduction. Pare-Pare: CV. Kaaffah Learning Center.

Tjandrasasmita, Uka. 2009. Islamic Archaeology of the Archipelago: in Introduction. Popular Library Gramedia: Jakarta.