Living Megaliths

Balance in Sumba, Indonesia.

Two tall limestone figures loom over a heavy table, their bodies outlined in negative space surrounded with glorious motifs of bravery, power and rebirth. The figures stand watching over their descendants as they sit and socialize on the massive tomb; children run around the four large pillars of the dolmen, women are drying textiles over the massive capstone and produce on the table in front of the tomb. The spirits of the ancestors are still present within these stones; this structure is a living monument, a point of connection and balance between the living and the dead, the material and invisible. The inclusion of the male and female figures holds more weight than a mere representation of the deceased, it reflects the fundamental necessity of balance in Sumbanese culture, a value that can be seen translated through the imagery and motifs carved into the tomb’s surface, as well as within the structure’s architectural design. Once the tomb is assembled, the capstone is called a kamone, and considered to have a masculine association. The chamber enclosed by this kamone and it’s dolmen-style reti structure creates a womb-like sarcophagus chamber for the body to rest in, which is called kawinye, meaning “woman” or “widow.” 

The erect penji, or kado watu, which is a large upright stone placed in front of the reti to express the significance of the deceased, could also be read as a phallic, masculine aspect of the tomb. One that is balanced by it’s carvings symbolizing rebirth and fertility as well as the feminine kawinye. The stone tomb is carved by skilled stone workers called Tukango using an iron pick called a lingis. The Tukango engrave the surface of the penji with motifs of gold objects like the gongs at the figures’ feet, chest ornaments worn by nobility called marangga, and earrings that are also symbols of the womb, called mamuli. These indications of wealth and prestige are accompanied by bands of stylized semiotic patterns representing water, the growing of rice, successions of ceremonies, and other symbolic gestures of wealth and abundance in Sumbanese life. The edges of the kamone are carved with horizontal bands of meander motifs outlining vertical bands of these stylized geometric patterns. Tombs of noblemen, such as this tomb of the Raja of Anakalang, West Sumba, often have carvings covering almost every surface of the stone structure.

Although the construction of a megalithic tomb is a long, drawn-out process that becomes very much part of the tomb patron’s own life and legacy, once the individual has died, the interment process is separated into distinct first and second burials. The length of the liminal period of time between burials is ultimately determined by how long it takes to produce the necessary elements, which include textiles for the body to be wrapped in, livestock for feasts and sacrifices, offerings of betel nut and wooden figures carved to resemble the deceased, and most importantly, the quarrying, transportation, and carving of the tomb stones. Actualizing the grandiosity of each of these events requires the patron of the tomb to make deals and alliances with other prominent ancestral houses in preparation for their own death. This process effectively  expands the social standing of the tomb patron and translates his symbolic death into a working part of his daily life. The impact of this death ritual on the life of the tomb patron along with its remarkable social significance functions as a major reason for the steady continuation of megalithic tomb building in Sumba.

Rather than holding a singular memorializing funeral event, many rituals and ceremonies take place between the time that an individual decides to begin the process of building their tomb and when their body is finally laid to rest. Beginning with a meeting of individuals from other prominent ancestral houses to discuss plans, and subsequently, a ritual to release any spirits from the stone before quarrying it, each ceremony until the structure is finished and the body is entombed serves to strengthen and renew the spiritual relationship between the living and the dead, the material and the invisible forces that inhabit it. The practice of building megalithic tombs is a means of ensuring the safe passage of the ndewa, or spirit of the ancestor, to the land of the dead, or Prai Marapu. The constant reconciliation and interaction between the immaterial and material worlds is evident as the ndewa lives on to play a prominent role in the daily life of the clan members while the mawo (body), or literally “pulp” becomes a source of fertility to the clan’s land.

One of the most important ceremonies that takes place during this liminal period between first and second burials is the ritual called Tarik Batu. This ritual encompasses the gendered quarrying process and transportation of the limestone slab, which will become the kamone, to its ancestral village. During this process the stone undergoes a transformation of genders, as explained by Hoskins “the stone begins as a young bride, praised for her beauty and fine chalk-white skin, but as it continues on its way across the estuary and up to the ancestral villages, it is transformed into a representation of the dead soul, and finally a victorious warrior.” The process of trading livestock and textiles in order to quarry a stone from another clan’s land is analogous to that of a bride price or dowry payment. This separation of the stone from its home quarry resembles “the separation of a daughter from her parent.” The marriage analogy is further indulged by the megalithic bride’s journey to her new home, being pried from her limestone bed by a swarm of men with iron linggis who proceed to hoist her into a wooden tena watu raft and drag her across the land to become part of a family monument in a different ancestral village. 

This labor intensive pilgrimage, pulling the tena watu vessel across the perilous Sumbanese landscape, symbolically represents the dangerous liminal transition the ndewa must make to reach the Prai Marapu. Once the stone has safely arrived at its new ancestral village and is set atop the reti, it takes on its new role of the male warrior returning home to solidify his legacy in stone carvings, opulent feasts and cathartic dancing. This sacred joining of the kamone with the kawinye female cavity below is described as a conjugal union, or mbold. It is within this womb-like kawinye space that the body of the deceased nobleman rests in fetal position, cocooned in fine textiles and harmonious balance.

Another significant juxtaposition to note is the new practice of moving quarried stones with trucks rather than using the traditional tena watu boat-like sledge made of coconut trunks, bamboo and vine ropes. The kamone, being the most symbolically important stone, is often still transported in the traditional Tarik Batu way using tree trunk rollers to pull the tena watu vessel from the quarry to the ancestral village. The smaller supporting stones, however, are now sometimes transported by truck. 

No matter how the stones are transported, their symbolic journey remains the same. On the island of Sumba, megalithic stone tombs play the role of binary negotiator between opposing elements, they are the link between the living Sumbanese and their ancestors; they are both feminine and masculine, both dead and alive. It is this sacred oppositional unity, a reconciliation between two seemingly irreconcilable forces, that underlies so many aspects of Sumbanese life. Although the tomb itself will live on to carry the legacy of the deceased, it is the spectacle of the tomb building process with its splendid feasts, the gathering people from other ancestral villages, and the grandiosity of the Tarik Batu stone dragging ceremony that truly solidifies this megalithic tradition as fundamental to Sumbanese life.

Works Cited

• Adams, Ron L., and Ayu Kusumawati. "2
The Social Life of Tombs in West Sumba, Indonesia." Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, vol. 20, no. 1, 2010, pp. 17-32.

• Adams, Ron L. “The Megalithic Tradition of West Sumba, Indonesia: an Ethnoarchaeological Investigation of Megalith Construction.” Simon Fraser University, 2007.

• Decorative Arts of Sumba. Pepin Press, 1999.

• Hoskins, J. A. "So My Name Shall Live: Stone-Dragging and Grave-Building in Kodi, West Sumba." Bijdragen Tot De Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, vol. 142, no. 1, 1986, pp. 31-51.

• Kartik, K. "Images of the Dead - Megalithic Stone Tombs and Ancestor Worship in Sumba." Arts of Asia, vol. 29, no. 5, 1999, pp. 72-88.

• Kerlogue, Fiona. Arts of Southeast Asia. Thames & Hudson, 2004.

• Paccou-Martellière Véronique, and Thomas H. Hinterseer. Arts Et Traditions De Sumba = Arts and Traditions of Sumba. Lelivredart, 2016.