If you have visited West Papua, you will be familiar with the Kokas ancient site. However, it also has another name: the Tapurarang archaeological site.
The site is located in Kokas District of Fakfak. Travellers who love visiting and learning new things about history should come to the Kokas.
Thus, in this article, you will find a series of information about this archaeological site. If you plan to visit West Papua anytime soon, Kokas is a place you better not miss out on.
The Beauty of Kokas District
More than anything, Kokas District is one of a kind. The location is about 50 km from Fakfak City, which may take around 2 hours of driving. After arriving at Kokas, you still need to take a longboat for another hour to reach the cliff and see the ancient painting.
Despite the location, Kokas District will spoil all visitors with its beauty. There are tons of natural attractions that will make you want to stay longer.
The ancient painting
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Kokas has several places where visitors can find ancient relics, such as Goras, Darembang, Forir, Fior, and Andamata. One of the main attractions of the Tapurarang archaeological site is the old painting on the cliff’s wall. You can watch this show as long as the tide is low.
The painting resembles the human’s hands in various shapes and sizes, wrapped in bloody red. Well, locals believe that prehistoric people used fresh blood to put the painting.
Other than that, the hands are all over the cliff’s wall located at the side of the strait sea that connects Kokas Districts and Arguni Island. The hands are the majority that fills the painting, but you will also find foot paintings, dolphins, human’s faces, eyes, lizards, and something like boomerangs.
At a glance, there is nothing special from the paintings, but they describe the daily activities in the prehistoric era. Even though the paintings have been there for decades or even centuries, the colour remains vivid and bold – it seems like fading is not an option.
And even though people believe the paintings were made using fresh blood, they used natural dye from plants.
According to archaeologists, the paintings came from the Megalitikum Era. While paintings are commonly used for mementoes or symbols of beliefs, animal paintings might be considered their ancestors’ heroes.
The history behind the site
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Tapurarang archaeological site is the cliff where the paintings mentioned above were found. The spot itself is sacred for locals because they believe the paintings resemble the cursed ones.
According to folklore, the curse was spelt by an old lady that passed away after a huge disaster occurred. She took a boat to cross the strait sea, but the tide was too high. No one helped that old lady as she drained at sea.
Later, the soul cursed everyone that crossed the sea and turned everything into the paintings on the cliff’s wall ever since. However, this story is rarely told to visitors because the locals believe that it could banish their luck in the future.
Besides the paintings, you will also find tons of skulls and skeletons around the site. The findings draw the idea about how the ancient took care of the dead ones – they just put the bodies near-sacred trees, caves, cliffs, and other sacred spots around the island.
Stunning vacation destinations
Visiting Tapurarang Site is such an adventurous vacation for one. Yet, this is suitable for those who love wandering around the wild.
There are no houses or other buildings along the road to reach the site. You will get through a forest and then take a longboat to get to the site. Fun, right?
Overall, Tapurarang archaeological site is an interesting spot you have to visit when you are in West Papua.
