International Review of Humanities Studies www.irhs.ui.ac.id, e-ISSN: 2477-6866, p-ISSN: 2527-9416 Vol.3, No.2, October 2018 (Special Issue), pp. 336-348 336 ANCIENT TOMBS AND MOSQUES IN JAVA: COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND COSMOLOGY Ghilman Assilmi Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia assilmi.ghilman@ui.ac.id James Farlow Mendrofa Department of Phillosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia james.farlow@ui.ac.id Abstract The development of Islam in Java is closely related to the tomb as a material culture that can be studied in archeology. Through the study of tombs, it can be revealed how Islam is developed. In general, the placement of the remaining tombs of the Islamic sultanate in Java can be divided into two locations, namely tombs that are on hills or mountains, and the tombs that are in flat areas. This article discusses the meaning of placing tombs in flat areas studied through the view of Javanese cosmology. Data sources used came from two places, namely the Great Mosque of Demak and the Great Mosque of Kudus. In addition, the study of pilgrimage activities in both places became the focus of the research to see how people now interpret the tombs. The results of the study show that placement of the tombs is related to the microcosm, which is the process of human creation in Islamic cosmology. The activity of pilgrimage to the existing tomb complex is a tradition that is closely related to the meaning of respect for the buried figure. Keywords: collective memory, cosmology, java, tomb, mosque Preface Artifacts, ecofacts, and features are basic symbols that came from the past (Hayden, 1993: 71). Tomb is one of the archaeological data sources in the form of features. Besides being a feature, the tomb has a role of a material culture as a result of human culture which has certain cultural values for certain communities. Besides having cultural values, tombs as archaeological data also contain important information that is used in research and studies that are archaeological. The development of Islam in the archipelago left a large number of tombs or tomb complexes of the Islamic sultanates. Mostly, placement of the tombs of the sultans or guardians still have continuity aspects with pre-Islamic culture, that is the use of hills or mountains as place of tombs that are considered sacred. In addition to the place in a rather high place, there is also a tomb complex which is flat but slightly elevated, as well as prehistoric buildings or temples. Furthermore, the final type of placement is based on the pattern of grave placement for the most respected figure, namely in the center, at the back, or the highest (Ambary, 1998: 100). Beside