Ancient cow statue unearthed during banana planting

Local residents of of Siwal village in Sukoharjo regency, Central Java, Indonesia, have unearthed a headless cow statue on Monday presumed to date back to the Mataram era (732-1006 AD).

The headless cow statue (by Ganug Nugroho Adi)

The discovery was made as the local resident was digging holes in the ground to plant banana trees in his neighbour’s yard. Eight people were needed to lift the statue, which is 1 metre long, 0.45 m wide and 0.6 m tall. Heritage officials believe the statue is a relic of the Hindu Mataram Kingdom and depicts Lembu Andini, a sacred animal believed to be the carriage of Shiva. It is suspected that the statue had been stolen before and then buried, because the head was missing as a lot of animal-shaped ancient relics were found headless due to the heads of the statues presumably being  very valuable.

(after Ganug Nugroho Adi & The Jakarta Post)

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