Kaimana is an Island located in West Papua that’s known for its amazing sunset on earth. The island is surrounded by water, directly connected with the Arafuru Sea, where the sun sets at the west. There is even a festival to highlight this event called the Senja Kaimana Festival, in which there are many traditional and art performances. Nowadays, more than 60,000 people live in Kaimana; 168 kinds of birds, of which 53 kinds of them can only be found in Papua; 600 different kinds of orchids; and more than 100 kinds of corals.
Economic Point of View of Kaimana
Kaimana is one of the districts in the south Bird’s Head Region, Papua, where many people with different ethnicity, culture, and religion gathered in their coastal region. Rich of natural resources, locals of Kaimana mainly have an occupation as fishermen, traders, and farmers for a commodity that’s exported to all cities of the Indonesian Archipelago and other countries periodically.
Geographically speaking, Kaimana is very strategic because it’s located in West Papua, hence explains the existence of a trading line is possible. Papua has natural resources that the other area needed in the world. It is also a commodity provider for sea cucumber, masoi wood, exotic birds, turtle scales, seaweed, shark fin, pearls, nutmeg, etc.
The Historical Development of Kaimana Coastal Region
Archaeological remains found in many kinds of research from the early historical age at Kaimana Coastal Region materialized in mosques, burial sites of Islamic Kings, and Chinese Gravesite shows that many cultures live in Kaimana long after the findings of Karas Kaimana Cave. Many merchants from Maluku, Arab, Malay, Chinese, and Europe came to this island with their own cultures and were well received by the locals of West Papua.
From ancient ruins, it is found that civilization during this age reflects an advanced maritime civilization with open-minded, advanced, and adaptive characteristics to many social, economic, and religions.
Daily Lives of Karas Kaimana Cave People
Kaimana has many Limestone Caves that are rich in pre-historical prints. Based on karst formation, Karas Kaimana Cave holds a unique, complicated, and complex history of human evolution. The presence of this cave proves that residential living took place in West Papua more than 20,000 years ago. They found artifacts (tools made from humans) and ecofacts (organic and environmental remains) within these caves.
Karas Kaimana Cave itself is located near the riverbank. It also proves an extensive human knowledge to take advantage of natural resources to sustain their lives by eating many kinds of animals, such as moles, birds, bats, cuscus, marine fish, turtles, crabs, freshwater, and seawater mollusks.
Besides hunting, it’s also found traces of forest exploration from humans long ago through fragments of walnuts. They used Karas Kaimana Cave to protect themselves from wild animals and extreme weather changes. When the air outside the cave is hot, we can feel cool and breeze inside the cave.
Pantings and Other Historical Evidence
Paintings on the ceiling of Karas Kaimana Cave are so fascinating. Figurative pictures like humans and fish on different spots of the cave seem to be placed in detail as a map for the burial site.
Primary burial system is also used with people during this age. The process of human burial is carried out by making grave holes and inserting the dead body inside, and filled. Later, the same location is still used for daily activities. This means Karas Kaimana Cave is not only served as a living space but also as a graveyard to bury the dead. Earthenware found with many motives and patterns shows a high possibility of interactions with people outside Kaimana. This is important because it shows many cultures use ceramics as a product of luxury and appreciation of art.
The rich history of West Papua can be explored through the Island of Kaimana, which many historical sites explain pre-historic lives from thousands of years ago. It’s very important to protect these ancient sites that portray the beauty of Indonesia’s Archipelago. Karas Kaimana Cave should be maintained and explored more to help us understand humankind better.
