Human bones, coins from 1815 reportedly unearthed in West Java

JAKARTA — Village of Cigorowong in Cileungsi district, Bogor regency, West Java, are astounded after a resident recently unearthed what is believed to be a human skeleton and coins dating back to 1815 on a plot of land behind his house.

Alleged human bones and coins reportedly dating back to 1815 were unearthed on a private plot of land in Cileungsi district, Bogor regency, West Java, on Wednesday. (kompas.com/File via The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network)

“On Wednesday afternoon, two people were digging ground behind my house to install a septic tank when they discovered the skeleton. They immediately reported the discovery to me,” house owner Rafi Almuniri said on Friday.

Rafi planned to install the septic tank at a depth of 5 meters. Much to the diggers’ surprise, their hoes hit a skull on the second day of work, 3.5 meters down.

“There are a skull and bones of legs, hands, fingers and backbones. I think it was a woman, because there’s an undamaged metal hairpin behind the head,” he said.

They noticed eight pieces of iron stuck in the skeleton. “Two are stuck on top of the skull, two in the stomach area, one went through the chest, and the rest are stuck at the pubic bone and under the feet bones,” Rafi said as quoted by kompas.com.

Besides the metal hairpin, other goods found with the skeleton were four old coins, a broken mirror and a metal ring on the finger.

“There were quite a few coins, but only four are in good condition, while the rest have been wrecked,” he said.

Rafi did not recognize details on the coins at first, but after placing them in acid, he said the writing showed that they were from 1815, suggesting that the coins and the skeleton had been buried for some 200 years.

The skeleton has been moved to the Cileungsi public cemetery, while the iron and coins were collected by the subdistrict military command (Koramil).

Meanwhile, Cileungsi Police chief Comr. Endang Kusnandar said they had yet to confirm the findings. “We’re working with an archaeologist to study the skeleton and determine whether it belonged to a human or not,” he said.