The valley’s rice paddies are scattered with mysterious ancient megaliths. Locals call this one “Palindo”—”the entertainer”. Bada Valley, Sulawesi, Indonesia. © Jackson A. Helms IV.
Bada Valley is surrounded by the forested mountains of Lore Lindu National Park.
Jennifer Hile wrote for National Geographic Today on 2001:
According to local legend, they were long-ago criminals who turned to stone and were abandoned.
(…) The original purpose of the carvings remains a mystery. They were abandoned long ago, and no tools or other evidence of the society that built them has been found.
The carvings may be related to a 2,000-year-old culture that carved megaliths in Laos, Cambodia, and other parts of Indonesia. However, the arca menhirs and kalambas are found nowhere else in Asia.
“That’s the curious thing,” Pollard explained. “That’s one of the reasons no one knows what these carvings are for, because we can’t relate them to anything else in the world…if these stones didn’t exist, we wouldn’t even know the culture existed. It was too long ago, before recorded history.”
Here there is more from Indonesia:
Lore Lindu Megalith group. © Vit Tours.
Megalithic stone in a rice field in Lore Lindu National Park, Indonesia. CC BY-SA by Collectie Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen via Wikimedia Commons.
Megalith from Lore Lindu National park, Indonesia. © Wookytravels.
Megalith from Lore Lindu National park, Indonesia. © Wookytravels.
Small megalith from Lore Lindu National park, Indonesia. © Wookytravels.
Megaliths stones are found all over Nias. Traditionally they were erected at new villages or at funerals for important Chieftains. This stone is located deep into the forest in Alasa sub-district, North Nias Regency, Nias Island, Indonesia. Photo by Bjorn Svensson at North Nias Tourism
Nias Island Megalithic stone figures at Hiligohe and Dahana sites, Indonesia.
By Tara Steimer-Herbet
And elsewhere (captions will be added…)
Marquesas Islands. Native idol. C1910 Postcard.
Another of the impressive standing stone or menhir of the Filitosa site. CC BY-NC-SA by Olivier Ffrench via France in Photos
Sarcophagi of Carajía. Chachapoyas culture. Referred to by local residents as the “ancient wise men”. CC-BY-SA J F via flickr.
Pre-columbian large male axe-head figure. Carved and polished greenstone. 300 - 100 B.C. Accession - S-81-12. Gift of Mrs. A. H. Spivack, in memory of Dr. A. H. Spivack. © University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries. Standing anthropomorphic figure in the form of an axe head, feet form chisel end with grove carved between on front and back, arms indicated at side, hands across abdomen, figures shown by cut grooves, features shallow, wide flat nose, heavy brow.
Mezcala Stone Pregnant Idol - CK.0123
Origin: Guerrero, Mexico
Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD
Dimensions: 5.625" (14.3cm) high x 2" (5.1cm) wide
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Style: Mezcala
Medium: Stone
via Barakat Galler.
Along the region of the Rio Mezcala in the Central portion of the Mexican state of Guerrero, an ancient culture evolved which created highly expressive and powerful stone ritual objects. Possibly springing from the same roots as the famous Olmec culture, the people of Mezcala imbued Celts, axes used for hafting, with both magical and spiritual symbolism. The talented Mezcala artists who created these dynamic ritual Celts developed a powerful, expressive style of abstraction remarkably close to that of many modern artists. Female Mezcala figures are quite rare and this pregnant idol is no exception. She holds her arms over her bulging stomach. - (CK.0123)
Origin: Guerrero, Mexico
Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD
Dimensions: 5.625" (14.3cm) high x 2" (5.1cm) wide
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Style: Mezcala
Medium: Stone
via Barakat Galler.
Along the region of the Rio Mezcala in the Central portion of the Mexican state of Guerrero, an ancient culture evolved which created highly expressive and powerful stone ritual objects. Possibly springing from the same roots as the famous Olmec culture, the people of Mezcala imbued Celts, axes used for hafting, with both magical and spiritual symbolism. The talented Mezcala artists who created these dynamic ritual Celts developed a powerful, expressive style of abstraction remarkably close to that of many modern artists. Female Mezcala figures are quite rare and this pregnant idol is no exception. She holds her arms over her bulging stomach. - (CK.0123)
Fragment of a column at Göbekli Tepe. Photographer unknown.
Urfa (today Şanlıurfa) Man - Göbekli Tepe. Photographer unknown. On exhibition at Şanlıurfa Museum (Ministry of Culture and Tourism website). Via reydekish.com. A two-meter high statue of a male that was discovered in Balıklıgöl in 1993. The limestone statue the eyes of which are carved out of obsidian depicts a man seizing his genital organ with both hands.
Kimmerian steles dates B . C . 6th century discovered in Hakkari Turkey.
The sculpture "Ancestress", Lepenski Vir, Serbia. By National Museum in Belgrade © 2016
Stone Amulets from Santo Domingo… pre-Columbian Taino.
Image from page 448 of “Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution” (1895)
Stone idol at Xico Viejo, Mexico. Page 108 “Certain antiquities of eastern Mexico” 1907
Los Atlantes de Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.
Moai at Rano Raraku - Easter Island. CC BY-SA by TravellingOtter via Wikimedia Commons
Chontales anthropomorphic figure, Nicaragua.
Fin de la période V – début de la période VI, 800-1000 ap. J.-C. La Collection Barbier-Mueller, Art Précolombien, Vol. II, p. 7, fig. 160. Via Sotheby's.
Warrior with Trophy Head.
Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art . OASC.
- Date:
- 300–800 A.D.
- Geography:
- Costa Rica
- Culture:
- Chiriqui
- Medium:
- Stone
- Dimensions:
- H. 34 3/4 x W. 11 1/2 x D. 9 5/16 in. (88.3 x 29.2 x 23.6 cm)
- Classification:
- Stone-Sculpture
- Credit Line:
- The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
- Accession Number:
- 1979.206.422
Standing Figurines, 1000-1100. Possibly Mimbres artist. Sanders, Arizona, United States. Stone, pigment, height of each 7.6-12.1 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund, 03.325.4527-.4534. Possibly Mimbres (Native American). Standing Figure, 1100-1000 B.C.E. Stone, pigment, 3 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 in. (7.6 x 4.4 x 1.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund, 03.325.4527. Creative Commons-BY by Brooklyn Museum.
English: Kublov, Beroun District, Central Bohemian Region, the Czech Republic. An idol of Veles, the Slavic god, from 2003 at the Velíz Hill. CC BY-SA by cs:ŠJů via Wikimedia Commons.
Fragment of a roof finial of a large clan house, a sculpture of the Kanak people made of Houp wood, 18th century. Height: 101 cm. Museé du Louvre, Pavillion des Sessions. Accession Number Inv. 96.2.1. Public Domain. Photo by Jastrow (2006).
Sheela-na-Gig, Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England. CC0 by via Wikimedia Commons
Funeral sculptures from Konso, Ethiopia. Photo credit: © Danit Ethiopian Tours.
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S. I. B. A. of Ethnology, Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington : U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1895, vol. 25.
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