KEARIFAN TEMPATAN MASYARAKAT BATUJAYA DALAM PEMBUATAN BATA CANDI.

Batujaya Temple Complex is located in Karawang, West Java Province. This complex is located in the Segaran and Telagajaya administrative area. There are more than 20 scattered ruins of monument temples in the range of 5 km square which consists of rice fields. The main focus of this study is to look into the local wisdom of communities in brick making technology used as the main building material in the Batujaya Temple Complex. This study was conducted by using two sources, the primary source was in the form of scientific data obtained from the brick chemical content analysis and the secondary sources is through early writings that have been published by researchers before. Chemical composition analysis as the primary source was obtained from two methods by using XRay Diffraction to determine the mineral content of the brick and X-Ray Fluorescence to determine the trace and major elements of the brick. For this study, samples are taken from six temple’s bricks namely Candi Jiwa, Candi Blandongan, Candi Asem, Candi Damar, Candi Lingga and Candi Serut. Mineral content analysis in the bricks show the presence of anorthite and hematite in most of the brick samples. It shows that the bricks were burned at temperatures exceeding 850oC. It shows that the raw materials used have a high in sand content. Sample group distribution showed that the raw material used to make bricks were taken from the surrounding area. Comparison between distribution of bricks samples and clay samples from the complex area show that there are similarities in the content of the main elements. This proves that the raw materials used for bricks manufacture were taken from the nearby Batujaya Temple Complex. Local raw materials used for bricks manufacture have proven the local communities’ role in building and developing monuments in Batujaya Temple Complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]