The prehistory of this large island of western Indonesia is little known, but recent excavations at Tianko Panjang cave in Jambi Province have yielded an obsidian flake industry dating from about 8000 be, with undated cord-marked pottery in upper layers. The Pasemah megaliths may date from the early 1st millennium AD. Classical. The island may already have been mentioned in the epic Râmâyana, but the earliest sign of Indian influence is the existence, attested for the 7th century, of an important centre for the diffusion of Buddhism in Palembang. It was here that the Indianized kingdom of SrIvijaya came into being at the end of the same century, succeeding Fun an as the dominant maritime power in the region. In the 13th century Java established control over the island, spelling the end of Srivijaya. However, as Marco Polo mentioned Islam in Sumatra at the same time, Indian culture was soon to vanish from the island altogether. See also Malaysia.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied