SUNGAI PETANI: The Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex, where one of the oldest iron smelting sites in Southeast Asia is located, appears to have a good chance of being made into a world heritage site.
National Heritage Department Director-General Dr Zainah Ibrahim said this was based on the confirmation of the samples which had been tested using the Carbon Dating technique by the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Florida, in the United States.
“I see that the process is simpler than the process to gain recognition for the Royal Belum because the data from Sungai Batu had been technically and scientifically proven.
“Thus, its eligibility cannot be disputed. This will facilitate the process of obtaining recognition for the Sungai Batu Archeological Complex from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco),” she told Bernama, here today.
Zainah, however, said Sungai Batu had yet to be nominated because research and digging works were still going on.
“We will use the seminar as a platform to gather documents to be made as part of the supporting documents for nomination.
“Some of the experts present at the seminar are some of those who will make an evaluation of the site when the nomination is submitted to Unesco later,” she said.
Besides Sungai Batu, Zainah said her department was also endeavouring to obtain Unesco’s recognition for several sites including Pulau Sipadan, Sabah; Royal Belum, Perak; Permatang Quarza, Selangor; and the National Park.
“It’s just that there is a slight difficulty for the recognition process for the National Park because it is located in three states namely Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu,” she added.
A total of 29 world renowned archeologists are attending the Kedah Tua International Conference to highlight the Kedah Tua civilisation and its importance to the Southeast Asian region.
The two-day seminar beginning today would also discuss the global archeology involving the world’s six major civilisations including Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, Egypt, the Indus dan Roman Greece. --BERNAMA