Bukit Kerang is an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

site of the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

era found in the

Aceh Tamiang Regency Aceh Tamiang Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Tamiang) is a regency in the east of Aceh province of Indonesia, bordering on North Sumatra Province to the east. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The regency covers an area of 1,957.02 square kil ...

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

, Eastern Sumatra, Indonesia. The site stretches for about 120 kilometres to Tembung, a part of

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

, in the southern part of the Aceh Tamiang regency. Two sites have been identified by the Archaeological Center of Medan (Balai Arkeologi Medan). For thousand of years the site has drawn farther and farther away from the coast. The site's distance from coast now is about 10 to 15 kilometres. The archaeologists who first researched the site were Dutch archaeologists in the 1920s to 1930s. The prehistoric site was named "Bukit Kerang", meaning "hill of mollusk shells". The most significant part of it is a large

shell mound A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

, formed from a mass of mollusk shells.

Prehistoric man Prehistoric man may refer to: *Human evolution *The genus ''Homo'' *Archaic humans *Any perceivedly primitive culture *''The Prehistoric Man'', a 1924 British silent comedy film *''Prehistoric Man'', a 1957 nonfiction book by André Leroi-Gourhan ...

of the Mesolithic era (dating from 5000 to 7000 years ago) lived by the shore of eastern Sumatra and mollusks were the easiest foodstuff that could be found. A pile of waste mollusk shells built up over time. There were also skulls, brainpans and bones which have been found inside the site. One of the skulls had teeth made of

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070502210749/http://kompas.com/ver1/Iptek/0704/03/172801.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20070916015812/http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/iptek/2007/04/13/brk%2C20070413-97804%2Cid.html Archaeological cultures of Southeast Asia Mesolithic cultures of Asia Archaeological sites in Indonesia Former populated places in Indonesia Shell middens Prehistoric Indonesia {{Aceh-geo-stub