/Nexus - 1904 - New Times Magazine/pages/0064/image.png)
Page Content (OCR)
In Besoa they are covered with inscriptions, which are missing from the drums in Bada. One of these stone drums has a lid with five carved animals around the edge, looking similar to the bronze Dong Son drums which found their way from Vietnam to Indonesia in prehistoric times. Riddles in Stone In 1902, the first Europeans, Paul and Fritz Sasarin, entered the Bada Valley without seeing the megaliths. The Dutch missionary Dr Albert C. Kruyt reported that when there was too little rain, offerings of pinang nuts were brought to the statue tha is known as Tarai Roi in the hope o' bringing a wealthy harvest. Other sources also report this kind o sacrifice. Nothing is known for sure about the origin of the stones. By the time Dr Kruyt reached Bada in 1908, the megalithic culture had gone. The inhabitants could no’ ell much more than that the statues were already there when their ancestors entered the valley. A final survey hasn't been done yet, but estimates o' he monuments’ age vary from 3000 BC to 1300 AD. It's probable that the sculptures of Bada, as well as those o he Besoa Valley, are the remains of a megalithic radition which was once spread over the entire Indonesian archipelago (but continues on the island o Sumba). Together with the stone statues and big drums, Central Sulawesi has a diversity of stone objects which probably originate from the same culture. The Swiss archaeologist Walter Kaudern, who lived in the area from 1917 to 1920, has the best story about the megaliths up till now. However, the statues in the Bada Valley are completely different in size—somewhere between one and four metres—but they are almost similar in style, being somewhat oval with large round faces. The eyes, somewhat oval as well, are surrounded with a long bend line which marks the eyebrows, nose and chin. The face is in high relief, but the arms, hands and genitals (an erect penis or an open vagina) are hardly in relief. It has been suggested that the Palindo sculpture is related to death. For the Toraja (about a four-to-five- day walk to the south), the west is the direction of death. Linguistic and Large stone drums called kalamba, some with lids featuring animal motifs, can be seen in the Bada and Besoa valleys in Sulawesi. Were they used as baths, storage containers or even burial chambers? In Besoa they are covered with inscriptions, which are missing from the drums in Bada. One of these stone drums has a lid with five carved animals around the edge, looking similar to the bronze Dong Son drums which found their way from Vietnam to Indonesia in prehistoric times. Large stone drums called kalamba, some with lids featuring animal motifs, can be seen in the Bada and Besoa valleys in Sulawesi. Were they used as baths, storage containers or even burial chambers? 62 * NEXUS JUNE - JULY 2012 www.nexusmagazine.com