Tag: Sulawesi

Buffalo sacrifice and megalithic funerary cults in Sulawesi and Southeast Asia

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Archeology, Atlas, folklore, Megalithism, Photo reportage, History of Religions

From the analysis of the Indonesian funerary rites (Sulawesi and Sumba), and more generally in Southeast Asia, a conceptual plot emerges including the erection of megaliths, the ritual sacrifice of the water buffalo (psychopomp animal par excellence), the cult of the Ancestors and its link with the fertility of rice fields. Let us try to understand how such different symbolic areas have harmonized with each other over the millennia.

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Bada Valley: the β€œxenomorphic” megaliths in the jungle

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Archeology, Atlas, folklore, Megalithism, Mito, Photo reportage

We visited the island of Sulawesi, in the Indonesian archipelago, and ventured into the rainforest of Lore Lindu in search of the mysterious Patung, megalithic sculptures of only partly anthropomorphic aspect which constitute for archaeologists (but also for natives) a real enigma. Taking into account the various hypotheses regarding the cults of ancestors, those of fertility and supposed human sacrifices, we will try to connect them in aΒ framework as coherent as possible.

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