Indonesian Archeologists to Investigate Potentially ‘Phenomenal’ Discovery

Jakarta Globe, Kinanti Pinta Karana, August 04, 2010

A photograph of a statue that claims to have been taken at a previously undiscovered underwater temple in the Bali Strait (Twitter Photo/@andjrot)

Jakarta. Indonesian tourism and cultural authorities have pledged to investigate a stunning series of photographs that claim to be of a number of underwater temples beneath the Bali Strait between Java and the resort island.

The story first broke on social networking site Twitter, with one user, identified as @andjrot, claiming that there were ten such underwater temples between Java and Bali.

Surya Helmi, director of undersea archeological division at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, refuted claims that the temples were discovered by Yogyakarta’s Archeological Office, saying if that was the case then the ministry would have been told about it.

“I first heard about the undersea temples two months ago but I doubt that the pictures were taken by Yogyakarta’s Archeological Office because they would have informed us,” Surya told the Jakarta Globe.

“I believe the pictures were taken by an independent team and I was informed that they wanted to meet me next week,” Surya said, adding that the ministry would conduct a thorough investigation.

“First, we will have to check whether the pictures are real or fabricated,” he said.

Surya, however, conceded that if the photographs were real, then the discovery was “phenomenal.”

“We do not know the exact location and we are intending to investigate after August 17,” he said, referring to Indonesian Independence Day.

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