Jejak Peradaban Manusia Sungai Krayan: Writing History from the Riverlands of Krayan

Dr. Yansen TP, M.Si. (fourth from the left, as seen by the reader) and Masri Sareb Putra, M.A., preparing to board a flight from Malinau to Ba’ Binuang to research the traces of human civilization along the Krayan River. Doc. author.

Writing a book can be a relatively brief endeavor when the materials are already at hand. 

What truly demands time, patience, and endurance is the research process itself. This is especially true for historical works that seek not merely to narrate events, but to reconstruct civilizations, trace ancestral movements, and give voice to memories that have long survived outside written records. 

Jejak Peradaban Manusia Sungai Krayan is precisely such a work. Authored by Dr. Yansen TP., M.Si., and Masri Sareb Putra, the book stands as the result of a long, complex, and deeply grounded research journey.

For Yansen, the project was not a sudden academic interest, but a long-cherished aspiration. “I have long hoped for a book that would historicize the origins, dispersal, population, and internal divisions of the Dayak Lundayeh,” he recalls. 

As a Dayak Lengolo, a sub-group of the Lundayeh people, and a native of Krayan, Yansen felt both an intellectual and moral responsibility to ensure that the history of his people would not remain fragmented, oral, or vulnerable to disappearance. At one point, he even sponsored a student to pursue studies in the Netherlands, hoping that advanced academic training might yield the comprehensive historical work he envisioned. Yet the book he dreamed of never came into being.

This unfulfilled hope lingered for years, reflecting a broader challenge faced by many indigenous communities. Their histories often exist in stories, rituals, place names, stones, and landscapes rather than in archives. Without sustained collaboration between insiders and committed researchers, these histories risk being overlooked or overwritten. It was within this context that the eventual collaboration between Yansen and Masri would take on profound significance.

A Collaboration Forged in the Field

The meeting of Yansen and Masri was not merely a professional partnership, but a convergence of shared concern and complementary strengths. Masri Sareb Putra brought long experience in historical research, cultural documentation, and writing, while Yansen contributed intimate knowledge of the land, language, and lived traditions of Krayan. Together, they embarked on an intensive period of fieldwork that unfolded primarily between 2018 and 2019.

Throughout those years, the two researchers traveled back and forth to Krayan repeatedly. Their journeys began from different directions, Yansen traveling from Malinau and Masri from Jakarta, yet both converged on the same rugged highland region. Accessibility posed a constant challenge. 

Many of the sites crucial to Lundayeh history are located far from urban centers and beyond conventional transportation routes. To reach Ba’ Binuang, Long Padi, and Tang Paye, Yansen at times chartered Mission Aviation Fellowship aircraft. These flights were not acts of convenience, but necessities dictated by geography and the urgency of documentation.

The destinations themselves were not chosen arbitrarily. Ba’ Binuang, Long Padi, and Tang Paye are widely recognized within local knowledge as centers of ancestral civilization for the Lundayeh people. These places hold traces of settlement, ritual practice, and oral tradition that collectively form the backbone of Lundayeh historical consciousness. 

Folklore, place-based narratives, and material remains converge in these landscapes, making them indispensable for understanding the long arc of human presence along the Krayan river system.

Batu Tabau, Lundayeh agricultural technology, reconstructed by Yansen TP and Paul Balang. Doc. author.

“We travel by plane,” he joked, acknowledging both the advances of modern transportation and the enduring difficulty of navigating Borneo’s interior. Yet despite these advances, the research still demanded physical resilience, cultural sensitivity, and sustained engagement with local communities.

Tracing Civilization through Stones and Rivers

One of the most intensive phases of the research took place on November 11, 2019. On that day, Yansen and Masri were accompanied by Balang Paul, the head of Ba’ Binuang village, whose guidance and authority were essential for accessing sacred and historically significant sites. 

Their journey began in Long Mutan, where they examined the Batu Yung site, a location long regarded by the community as holding deep historical meaning.

From Long Mutan, the team continued upstream by speedboat, following the river deeper into the interior. Their destination was Batu Tabau, a site where ancestral artifacts remain embedded in the landscape. 

These artifacts are not merely objects of archaeological curiosity. They offer tangible evidence of ancient agricultural cycles and patterns of subsistence practiced by the ancestors of the Lundayeh people. The stones, their placement, and their relation to the surrounding environment collectively testify to a sophisticated understanding of land, seasons, and sustainability.

The journey continued to Tang Paye, where the researchers studied Batu Sicien. This site is known as an old burial ground and a major center of ceramic history. Fragments of ceramics found there point to long-distance connections, trade networks, and cultural exchanges that extend far beyond Krayan itself. 

Batu Sicien thus situates the Lundayeh people within a broader regional and even transregional historical context, challenging simplistic notions of isolation often imposed on highland communities.

Throughout these explorations, rivers functioned not only as physical pathways but also as historical archives. The Krayan river system emerges in the book as a living witness to human movement, settlement, and adaptation. Civilization, in this telling, is inseparable from water, stone, and forest, all of which preserve memory in their own ways.

Voices of the Elders and the Birth of a Book

While sites and artifacts provide crucial evidence, the heart of Jejak Peradaban Manusia Sungai Krayan lies in its human voices. The narrative is enriched and anchored by elders who are widely recognized for their experience, wisdom, and deep knowledge of Lundayeh history. Among them are Ramli Paren, Balang Paren, Kam Pangeran, Lewi, Balang Murang, Daud Idip, Darius Kamis, Diono Daud, Ellias Yesaya, Gat Khaleb, Marli Kamis, Mikael Paul, Naftali, Samuel Tipa Padan, Tirusel Tipa Padan, and Yuni Ade.

These elders served not merely as informants, but as narrators of history. Their memories encompass genealogies, migration stories, ritual practices, and interpretations of sacred places. Through long conversations, patient listening, and careful cross-checking, Yansen and Masri transformed oral knowledge into written history without stripping it of its cultural texture. The process demanded trust, respect, and an ethical commitment to represent voices faithfully.

The culmination of years of research, travel, dialogue, and documentation came in 2022 with the publication of the book. 

A book that chronicles the history of the Krayan people. Doc. LLD.

In bringing the civilization of the Krayan riverlands into print, the book affirms that indigenous histories are neither marginal nor secondary. They are central to understanding the human story of Borneo, and indeed, of humanity itself.