Story of Bali, Indonesia

The following Period was the Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic. From the remains of this period which have not only been found in Java but also in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and other islands, we can say that men from the Mesolithic in Indonesia were in fact real human beings. Men from this period appear to have possessed.wider intellectual powers and are, consequently, called homo sapiens
The remains of tile products of their Culture in Indonesia include sharpened stone axes, implements made of bone' and some evidence that these men were already aquainted with pictorial arts, which call he seen from the negative hand prints and the drawing of a wild boar in south Sulawesi, which has some artistic value.After tile Mesolithic follows the New Stone Age or Neolithic. In this period the culture of men in Indonesia seems to have been very advanced already. In comparison with the Culture of previous periods it can even be said that they had made very rapid progress. Remains of men from the Neolithic are spread all over Indonesia and include stone axes which have been very carefully sharpened, stone ornaments, earthen waterjars, and evidence that they were even acquainted with agriculture and weaving and possessed settled homes.

As we noted when describing the kendang introduction to Baris, the higher pitched lead kendang produces the sounds "pak and "dug with the left and right hands respectively. The former sounds like the dry crack of a whip and the latter played with the mallet, a resonant bass. The deeper secondary drum requires the same technique to produce sounds that are equivalent but lower in pitch. On this drum "pak' is called "kap" and "dug" becomes "dag." Kap, pak, dug, and dag are the only four drum sounds used in Baris.These products of the Neolithic culture in Indonesia include nothing recognisable as being related to dancing. But it is undeniable that in the Neolithic and even in the Mesolithic the people in Indonesia were already acquainted with art, which means that they were acquainted with aesthetic values.The theory that the beginnings of dancing coincide with the beginnings of man, indicates that, even though no remains related to dancing have been discovered from the Stone Age, dancing must nevertheless have existed. This can be confirmed from the fact that of the branches of art, dancing is the form of expression first used. A child of one year old will dance before he can draw or sing. It stands to reason however, that the dancing of primitive Indonesian society on the Stone Age was still very simple and unrefined.

The kendang's interlocking is conceptually similar to the reyong kotekan: one part fills in when the other rests. Unlike the reyong, though, the drum patterns never coincide. Instead, like sounds interact successively with like sounds, resulting in lightning combinations like "kapakak" and "dadugdaduk." (In singing quickly, as with kotekan, final consonants may be dropped.) When the dynamic is soft, the composite rhythm of the kendangs sound like a vague and expectant rumble, but when the music gets loud the swift exchanges crack and boom like thunder.The Stone Age ended as the Metal Age began. This period is subdivided into the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Metal Age Culture of Indonesia was more advanced, The advanced is obvious from what has been excavated by the archaeologists, for instance, shoe axes for every-day use, ceremonial axes with beautiful patterns and engravings, nekara or bronze drums also beautifully decorated, ornaments such as bracelets, necklaces, earrings and rings, all made of bronze.

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