Retno Purwanti is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Prehistoric and Historical Archaeological Research, BRIN, specializing in Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic archaeology. Since 1993, she has been actively involved in numerous surveys and excavations of Hindu-Buddhist sites as well as Islamic archaeological research in South Sumatra, including the project “Spice Route in the Musi River Basin.” During the pandemic, her research focused on Islamic tombs in Palembang, resulting in the publications Kawah Tekurep: An Archaeological and Historical Perspective and Traces of Multiculturalism in Archaeology: Reading Islamic Graves in Palembang. With over one hundred scientific publications, Dr. Retno has also served as a lecturer and as Chair of the Cultural Heritage Expert Team (TCAB) of Palembang City (2016–2022). She was also an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Raden Fatah Palembang (1999–2022), and the Archaeology Program at Jambi State University (2014–2019).
