Experts disagree on religion practised at ruins older than Borobodur and Angkor Wat

Important find: Dr Mokhtar showing the furnace excavated from the archaeology site of ‘Relau Kg Chemara Jeniang’ to conference delegates at the festival site.

SUNGAI PETANI: A debate arose during a global archeology conference here over whether the civilisation in Bujang Valley practised animism instead of Hinduism or Buddhism as previously believed.

Theorising that the valley’s iron smelters about 2,000 years ago practised animism, Prof Datuk Dr Mokhtar Saidin triggered a slew of questions from visiting archaeologists from around the world.