In the past 5 years, fishermen fishing in the Musi River area, around Palembang – Sumatra island (Indonesia) have recovered many antiques worth millions of dollars. Maybe they have discovered something even greater and more valuable, an extremely rich ancient capital, a “gold hidden island” in real life.
According to Acient Origins, Dr. Sean Kingsley, a famous maritime archaeologist in the UK, paid attention to this strange phenomenon and suspected the antiques that fishermen found and most of them were scattered everywhere. through unorthodox purchases, belonged to the Srivijaya Empire that existed from the 7th to the 13th century in the Sumatra island region, then strangely disappeared in the 14th century.
Some gold jewelry found in the Musi River over the past few years – Photo: Wreckwatch Magazine
The capital of this empire was described in ancient records as a legendary “gold hidden island”, filled with treasure everywhere, similar to the golden city of El Dorado in Columbia.
In an interview with The Guardian, Dr. Kingsley said that if Indonesia’s “gold hidden island” really exists in this area, it must be a “water world” where residents spend a lot of time on the islands. Great boat – something that brings prosperity. Records show that for more than 300 years, Srivijaya’s rulers controlled important maritime trade routes between the Middle East and China.
The artifacts are very diverse and sophisticated – Photo: Wreckwatch Magazine
Treasures unearthed on the Musi River recently include a series of gold rings with elaborate symbols encrusted with rubies, a number of ceremonial rings also made of gold with four-pronged diamonds – the symbol of thunder in literature. Hindu culture, some gold and eastern jewelry, mirrors, most notably a sophisticated Buddha statue.
The biggest difficulty for research is that these million-dollar treasures were taken by fishermen using outdated methods, causing them to be damaged a lot, and then dispersed throughout the black market.
The Buddha statue is about 1,300 years old – Photo: Wreckwatch Magazine
According to Dr. Kingsley, it will be a huge loss if we do not promptly find and preserve the last remnants of Srivijaya: they could be permanently damaged and this empire will only remain in legend.
