Gold-foil burial amulets in Bali, Philippines and Borneo. S.J. O’Connor and T. Harrisson
Stanley J. O’Connor and Tom Harrisson published this article in 1971, presenting photographic and analytical evidence for a shared mortuary convention across maritime Southeast Asia: the placement of thin, leaf-shaped gold foil over the facial orifices of the dead. Drawing on excavated material from Bali, the Philippines, and Sarawak, with comparative parallels from China and South India, the authors argue that the practice represents a persistent ritual tradition spanning at least 1,700 years, whose ultimate origin—indigenous or externally derived—remains unresolved.
Summary
The article addresses a conspicuous gap in the archaeological literature: the near-total absence of systematic discussion of gold-foil burial amulets in Southeast Asia. O’Connor and Harrisson, building on their earlier monograph on Sarawak gold, set out to provide the photographic documentation and wider comparative context that their 1970 data paper could not. Their central argument is that the gold foil pieces recovered from Santubong in Sarawak, Oton in the Philippines, and Gilimanuk in Bali are functionally identical objects—eye and mouth covers for the deceased—rather than ornaments or grave furniture of uncertain purpose. The physical properties of the foil (extremely thin, brittle, lacking attachment points for wear) and its consistent leaf or oval shape across all three regions support this identification.
The authors then turn to the question of origin, weighing two external candidates against the possibility of indigenous development. The Chinese hypothesis rests on the well-documented practice of closing bodily apertures with jade amulets, supported by alchemical texts such as Ko Hung’s Pao P’u Tzu. However, the authors note that no gold equivalents have been identified in Chinese tombs, and the earliest Southeast Asian evidence (Gilimanuk, c. 100 B.C.–100 A.D.) predates any plausible channel of transmission from “nuclear” Chinese civilization. The Indian parallel, from the iron-age urn burials at Adichanallur in Tinnevelly, is more compelling in terms of material culture—megalithic thinking, iron working, carnelian beads, and similar repousse dot decoration—but the Adichanallur pieces differ in scale and were often found crushed, suggesting a different handling tradition. The authors ultimately decline to resolve the question, suggesting instead a broadly shared monsoonal Asian context.
Key Findings
- The Gilimanuk eye-cover (Bali), excavated by R.P. Soejono in November 1964, dates to approximately 100 B.C.–100 A.D. and is made of silver with a thin gold facing; it was found attached to skeleton No. LX in sector No. XVIII of a bronze-age settlement containing about 80 skeletons (p. 73).
- At Santubong, Sarawak, eleven leaf-shaped gold foil pieces with median breach-cuts were recovered from the Jaong site (late T’ang–early Sung period); they range from 52 mm to 20 mm in length, three are elliptical and eight have pointed ends, and three show additional perpendicular cuts (p. 73).
- The Oton, Iloilo (Panay) eye covering, dated to the 14th or early 15th century, is decorated with repousse dots and is more elaborate and literal in its representation of the eye than the Sarawak pieces (p. 72).
- At Adichanallur, Tinnevelly (south India), 19 small oval or leaf-shaped gold foil pieces were recovered from early iron-age urn burials spanning 114 acres; they range from 2 3/16 × 7/8 inches to 6 5/8 × 2 5/32 inches, and several bear repousse dots arranged in rows, center lines, and triangular elements closely resembling the Southeast Asian decorative vocabulary (p. 75).
- Spanish colonial records, including an 18th-century account by Gaspar de San Agustin and a 17th-century text by Francisco Colin, describe the placement of gold sheets over the mouth and eyes of the rich and powerful in Philippine burials (p. 72).
- A pair of jade eye covers in the British Museum, attributed to the Han dynasty and measuring 1 7/8” × 1”, bears tiny perforations at both ends for tying to the corpse’s head, representing the closest Chinese formal equivalent to the Southeast Asian gold pieces (p. 74).
Conclusion
O’Connor and Harrisson conclude that the gold-foil burial amulet tradition is traceable across a span of at least 1,700 years and a wide maritime area, demonstrating both the persistence of cultural practices and the circulation of ideas and material techniques around the Indian Ocean world. They explicitly refuse to assign a single point of origin, holding that the evidence is insufficient to determine whether the practice is an indigenous Southeast Asian development or is related to comparative traditions in China or India.
Context
- The article draws on excavation reports from the Sarawak Museum (Santubong, Gedong), the National Archaeological Institute of Indonesia (Gilimanuk), and the Archaeological Survey of India (Adichanallur), supplemented by unpublished collections in Manila (Dr. Arturo de Santos) and Cebu (Mrs. Rosa C.P. Tenazas).
- The study contributes to the historiography of prehistoric maritime Southeast Asia by linking the Santubong iron-working complex to a broader regional mortuary tradition, and by introducing the Adichanallur material as a previously underutilized comparative datum for early iron-age burial practice in the region.