his country as it was occupied by Javanese troups from 990 till 992. One Javanese ambassador who arrived in the Chinese capital in 9 9 2 informed his hosts that his country and San- fo- ts'i were always at war with one another.
The gap of one century in the China trade could also have been caused by the monopoly of the Central Javanese harbour princes in league with Sriwijaya. This could be the reason that ceramic sherds are found on the northeastern part of Central Java. They would not have been found if the prosperous trade had been entirely transferred to Eastern Java, together with the Central power.
CONCLUSION :
The presence of many ceramic sherds in one place means that there had been many inhabitants and perhaps there was already a Chinese settlement.
The absence of ceramic sherds prior to the Sung dynasty (1127—1278) as for example in Sumatra does not mean that there were no settlements as the Indonesians made use of bamboo, coconut husks, wood, gourds and shells for their household utensils. In a Chinese source P'o-Ni was recorded to have no clay, and therefore the inhabitants made use of bamboo and palm leaves for cooking purposes. (Krom, (1931), p.236).
Considering these facts, it is clear that ceramic sherds are very useful for the dating of sites, and besides to find out about the trade and political relations.
The use of local and foreign ceramics for ceremonies shows that Indonesians consider these wares as objects to ward off evil influences and in the case of foreign ceramics as status symbols.
***40
