ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES DISSEMINATION IN THE CENTERS OF ISLAM DIFFUSION IN RURAL AREA OF CENTRAL JAWA

Abstract

The propagation and Islamic teaching dissemination in Java

Island, which had gone long for periods of time, were solely struggled by

merchants or leaders and small groups of traders. Islam, in Java Island,

however, tended to be powerless to force on its development through a

war.The trace of Islam in Central Java seemed very interesting to be

recorded, especially in some places which were geographically located in

rural area of Central Java. The data were mostly obtained from textual data.

One of the subjects was Babad Tanah Jawi/the History of Java Island (sastra

babad/ literature of history). The word babad means classic, story, history.

Babad was considered as “history,” since it told about people in the past or

ancestry. Babad Tanah Jawi as one type of Java literature had mentioned the

names of figures and places showed a relationship with Islam spread in Java

Island, especially in the Southern part of Central Java, located in the East of

Gunung Merapi. From the tentative studies, there were several names of

places which were located in topographic maps. Coincidentally the names

of places which were mentioned in Babad Tanah Jawi had been investigated

as the R.O.D. inventory. In 1914-1915 there had been measurement to find

out possibility of toponyms contained of archeological data during the

diffusion of Islam. Basically the names which had been mentioned in Babad

Tanah Jawi probably had relationship with data of archeology, including

oral history in old people mind in the field of research