Maros Regency

Coordinates: 5°00′15″S 119°34′30″E / 5.00417°S 119.57500°E / -5.00417; 119.57500
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Maros Regency
Kabupaten Maros
Coat of arms of Maros Regency
Location within South Sulawesi
Location within South Sulawesi
CountryIndonesia
ProvinceSouth Sulawesi
CapitalMaros
Area
 • Total1,619.12 km2 (625.15 sq mi)
Population
 (mid 2022 estimate)[1]
 • Total403,774
 • Density250/km2 (650/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (WITA)

Maros Regency (Makasar: ᨆᨑᨘᨔᨘ, romanized: Màrusu’, Makasar pronunciation: [ˈmarusuʔ]) is a regency of South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,619.12 sq.km, and had a population of 319,002 at the 2010 Census[2] and 391,774 at the Census of 2020.[3] The official estimate for mid 2022 was 403,774.[1] Almost all of the regency lies within the official metropolitan area of the city of Makassar. The capital town of the regency is Maros.

Administrative division[edit]

The Regency is divided into fourteen districts (Indonesian: kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and population totals from the 2010 Census[2] and the 2020 Census,[3] together with the official estimate as at mid 2022.[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 80 rural desa and 23 urban kelurahan), and its postal codes.

Kode
Wilayah
Name of
District
(kecamatan)
Area
in
km2
Pop'n
Census
2010
Pop'n
Census
2020
Pop'n
Estimate
mid 2022
Admin
centre
No.
of
villages
Post
codes
73.09.01 Mandai 49.11 35,044 51,801 55,277 Tete Baru 6 (a) 90552
73.09.13 Moncongloe 46.87 16,939 23,728 25,059 Moncongloe Bulu 5 90564
73.09.04 Maros Baru
(Maros Town)
53.76 23,987 28,360 28,984 Baju Bodoa 7 (b) 90511
-90516
73.09.08 Marusa 53.73 25,226 34,324 36,046 Temmapaduae 7 90511
-90516
73.09.14 Turikale 29.93 41,319 48,558 49,568 Petuadae 7 (c) 90511
-90516
73.09.12 Lau 73.83 24,201 27,542 27,941 Macini Baji 6 (d) 90513
-90514
73.09.05 Bontoa
(Maros Utara)
93.52 26,573 30,604 31,119 Panjalingan 9 (e) 90554
73.09.03 Bantimurung 173.70 28,078 32,825 33,474 Kalabirang 8 (a) 90561
73.09.09 Simbang 105.31 22,209 25,538 25,960 Jene Taesa 6 90560
73.09.07 Tanralili 89.45 24,456 30,964 32,067 Borong 8 (e) 90553
73.09.11 Tompobulu 287.66 14,104 15,932 16,139 Pucak 8 90565
73.09.02 Camba 145.36 12,554 14,223 14,416 Cempaniga 8 (a) 90562
73.09.10 Cenrana 180.97 13,593 14,562 14,601 Bengo 7 90524
73.09.06 Mallawa 235.92 10,719 12,813 13,123 Ladangae 11 (e) 90563
Totals 1,619.12 319,002 391,774 403,774 Turikale 103

Notes: (a) including 2 kelurahan. (b) including 3 kelurahan. (c) all 7 are kelurahan. (d) comprising 4 kelurahan and 2 desa. (e) including one kelurahan.

Twelve of the fourteen districts tabulated above lie within the official metropolitan area of the city of Makassar; the remaining two districts (Camba and Mallawa), which together form the northeast salient of the regency (with just 6.82% of the regency's population in mid 2022), lie outside the metropolitan area.

Rock art in Maros[edit]

Important examples of rock art exist in the Maros regency. At the Leang Petta Kere cave for example, in the Bantimurung district (kecamatan) about 30 km to the north of Makassar, there are a number of red-and-white hand prints of animals and hands.[4] The images were made by blowing red pigment around hands that were pressed on the surface of the rocks.[5] These handprints are often accompanied by fruit-eating, pig-deer looking animals called babirusas.[6] A total of 12 images were found on the walls of seven different caves in the area.[7] The sites have been submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list for possible inclusion.[8]

The main site of the rock art is in seven caves around 40–60 km north east of Makassar. The oldest is a hand stencil located in Timpuseng cave with an estimated age of over 39,000 years.[9] It is accompanied by a depiction of a female babirusa, from about 35,000 years ago. The panel where the art can be found is located 4 meters above the cave floor and 8 meters from the entrance.[10]

The rock art in the caves was originally discovered in the 1950s by a Dutch archaeologist, H. R. van Heekeren, but at the time, was not regarded as being especially significant.[11] More recently, analysis of the pictures by an Australian-Indonesian team suggests that a number of the markings are over 30,000 years old.[12] They were looking at mineral layers that were covering the images, and tracing the amount of radioactive uranium in them. This technique did not give an exact date, but it narrowed down the time when the images were possibly painted.[13] The work suggests that early settlers in Asia were creating their own artwork at the same time, or even earlier, than artwork of this kind was being created in Europe.

The caves were of interest to the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace visited the East Indies during the period 1854 to 1862 although he appears not to have spotted the artwork.[14] Wallace discusses his visit to the region in his well-known book The Malay Archipelago first published in 1869.

Journal Science announced that hand print in Maros Cave by mouth spraying dye is in the sixth position of the 2014’s top ten science breakthroughs and is called as Indonesian Cave Art. The art of drawing in (Maros Cave) rocks has same old with inhabitant of the European land.[15]

Natural features[edit]

Maros Regency is famous for its karst hills and cliffs which have been referred to as "The Spectacular Karst Towers".[16]

The Karaenta Nature Reserve, best known for the Moor macaque monkeys (Macaca maura) in the park, is located in the Cenrana district (kecamatan) in the regency.[17] Moor macaques are endemic to Sulawesi and are considered to be endangered because the remaining numbers are believed to be limited.

Caves

The longest known cave in Indonesia is the Salukangkallang cave (27-kilometer in length). The cave is mostly in the Samangki Village Tourist Area (Kawasan Desa Wisata Samangki), but the entrance to the cave is in Labuaja village, nearby to Samangki village.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2023, Kabupaten Maros Dalam Angka 2023 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7309)
  2. ^ a b Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.
  4. ^ Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, 'Exploring the Leang-Leang Caves of Maros' Archived 2014-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, The Jakarta Globe, 6 July 2014.
  5. ^ Boyle, Alan. "40,000-Year-Old Rock Art in Indonesia Rewrites History Books". NBC News. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  6. ^ Marshall, Deborah. "Rock art discovery paints new human history". Griffith University. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  7. ^ Pruitt, Sarah. "Indonesian Cave Paintings May Be Among World's Oldest Art". History. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  8. ^ Maros Prehistoric Cave - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. See, specifically, the listing for Prehistoric Cave Sites in Maros-Pangkep.
  9. ^ 'Modern humanity may have begun in RI', The Jakarta Post, 10 October 2014.
  10. ^ Aubert, M.; Brumm, A.; Ramli, M.; Sutkina, T.; Saptomo, E. W.; Hakim, B.; Morwood, M. J.; van den Berg, G. D.; Kinsley, L.; Dosseto, A. (2014). "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia". Nature. 514 (7521): 223–227. doi:10.1038/nature13422. PMID 25297435. S2CID 2725838.
  11. ^ "Sulawesi Cave Art". Visual Arts Encyclopedia.
  12. ^ M. Aubert et al, 'Pleisocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia', Nature, 514, 9 October 2014. Also Paul S.C. Tacon et al, '40,000 year old rock art found in Indonesia', The Conversation, 9 October 2014.
  13. ^ Vergano, Dan. "Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw Picture of Earliest Art". National Geographic. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  14. ^ 'Cave paintings in Indonesia suggest art came out of Africa', The Guardian, 8 October 2014.
  15. ^ Khairul Anam. "Sulawesi Ancient Cave Art Listed as Greatest Science Breakthrough". Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  16. ^ "Wisata Gua Salukangkallang yang Menantang [The challenging Salukangkallang tourist cave]". January 5, 2012. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012.
  17. ^ Andi Hajramurni, 'Committed ranger and macaque tamer' Archived 2014-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, The Jakarta Post, 7 April 2005.

5°00′15″S 119°34′30″E / 5.00417°S 119.57500°E / -5.00417; 119.57500