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The Holocene
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Borobudur monument (Java, Indonesia) stood by a natural lake: chronostratigraphic evidence and historical implications

H. Murwanto

Research Centre for Natural Disasters, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Y. Gunnell

Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, CNRS-U M R 8591, 1 Place A. Briand, 92120 M eudon, France gunnell{at}idf.ext.jussieu.fr

S. Suharsono

S. Sutikno

Research Centre for Natural Disasters, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

F. Lavigne

Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, CNRS-U M R 8591, 1 Place A. Briand, 92120 M eudon, France

The ninth-century world-heritage Buddhist monument of Borobudur (Java, Indonesia) stands above the floor of a dried-out palaeolake, but it remains uncertain as to whether it was ever constructed on a lake shore. Here we reveal through new chronological and palaeoenvironmental data on the extant sediment record of the area that Borobudur intentionally stood by an existing lake. For the first time, evidence of this conjunction validates quite literally the debated cosmological interpretation of the edifice as an aquatic lotus symbol upon which Buddha is seated. The fluctuating life history of the lake spanned at least 20 000 years.

Key Words: Lake chronostratigraphy • volcanic sedimentology • environmental change • Buddhist cosmogony • Borobudur temple • Indonesia

The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 3, 459-463 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683604hl721rr
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