Goa Made. An Archaeological Discovery

This volume summarizes the preliminary results of studies carried out by scholars of different fields, archaeologists and material scientists, on the exceptional finds that came to light at Goa Made in east Java (Indonesia). The site was dug first by illegal excavators, then by Italian-Indonesian official teams of professional archaeologists under the direction of the Indonesian Government. Masks, statuettes, vessels and containers with elaborate forms and bells were made in a peculiar greenish brassbased material, possibly through a complex ceramic technology, so far never scientifically described and still partially understood. Although the precise dating and stylistic nature of many of these peculiar objects is still open to questioning, a good part has been ascribed to the Majapahit period (ca. XIII-XV. centuries AD). The book also reports detailed archaeometallurgic analyses carried out in some of the best laboratories of the world, the evidence gathered in a surface survey of the site and the full results of the excavations so far performed at the site.