These activities paralleled similar developments in Europe (Daniel 1950), as did all advances in archaeology in Indonesia during this period. By the middle of the nineteenth century, European principles of archaeology, such as the application of the three-age system to ancient objects, diffusion, homotaxis, typology, the comparative method, synchronization techniques, and stratigraphic excavation, were being applied to sites and data in Indonesia. However, only a few of these, such as diffusion, typology, and homotaxis, were successfully applied. The reason may be that the archaeological practitioners in Indonesia were primarily amateurs and unable to fully grasp the development of the European methods of research, which had turned archaeologists there into professionals (such as christian j. thomsen, austen h. layard, heinrich schliemann, and others).

1900–1950

The focus on Hindu-Buddhist monuments continued into the twentieth century, indeed, until World War II. The Commissie in Nederlandsch Indie voor Oudheidkundig Onderzoek op Java en Madura (Commission in the Dutch East Indies for Archaeological Research in Java and Madura) was established in 1901, and its name reveals its limited powers and limited research scope. Behind its establishment was concern for the neglected state of Javanese antiquities, which had received little careful, detailed, or systematic examination, and the political necessity of creating a specialist archaeological organization similar to such organizations already in existence in Indochina and India. The commission survived until 1913 when the chairman of its board, J.L.A. Brandes, died. Then the Oudheidkundige Dienst (or OD, Archaeological Service) was created by the government of the Dutch East Indies, and N.J. Krom was appointed as its director. The OD’s tasks, authority, and staff were extended in order to ensure better results.

The establishment of those two organizations was an important step in the development of archaeology in Indonesia. For the first time, a variety of archaeological activities was undertaken, and there was a center for the planning and direction of archaeology, which led to many improvements in archaeological practice in Indonesia (Soekmono et al. 1977). For the first time the results of archaeological research were published in the Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Commissie (or ROC [Report of the Archaeological Commission]), which later continued as Oudheidkundig Verslag van de Oudheidkundige Dienst in Nederlandsch Indie (OV; Archaeological Report of the Dutch East Indies Archaeological Service). Archaeological schedules were proposed for every part of Indonesia, not just Java and Madura, and the technical support for the implementation of these plans was increased. H.L. Leydie Melville, P.J. Perquin, and J.J. de Vink were employed in the areas of inventory and documentation.

The restoration of Javanese temples received special attention, but it was not without controversy. There were arguments for a limited restoration of the remains of extant monuments, arguments for reconstructions of them on paper only (Krom), and arguments for the restoration of monuments, as far and as much as possible, by reconstruction. While F.D.R. Bosch was in charge of the OD, in 1916, there was conspicuous progress in temple restoration in Java. These restoration activities resulted in the formation of a permanent technical staff for this specialist restoration work located at Prambanan.

As the OD matured, there was more interest in other fields of archaeology such as Islamic remains (P. J. Moquette), prehistoric remains (P. V. van Stein Callenfels), and the more recent historic remains of the Portuguese and the Dutch East India Company (V. I. van de Wall). The investigation of inscriptions, pioneered in the previous century by R.M. Th. Friederich, Cohen Stuart, H. Kern, and others, increased, and archaeological investigations took place in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Moluccas.

Archaeological activities were also supported financially by prominent people outside the OD, such as civil servants, experts from other government institutions, and private individuals. The position of archaeology in Indonesia became even more stable after the Dutch East Indies government promulgated the Monumenten Ordonnantie (Ancient Monuments