Giant Stones

Scattered throughout two valleys in and around Lore Lindu National Park are megaliths that are over 2000 years old. They were left by a culture which disappeared from the area long ago. People today know very little about the culture that left the megaliths and the reason for them. There are 3 types of megaliths: discs, urns and figures. The discs and urns are the most frequent and anthropologists suspect that they once housed the remains of the dead. The dead were placed inside the earn in the fetal position. One urn with its disc shaped lid per family...a communal stone coffin. I never could figure out the hypotheses for the large figurines, perhaps they were the gods. What makes these megaliths even more mysterious is the fact that the stones with which they are made cannot be found in the valley where they stones lay. How did they ancient ones get the stones to their current location? I think it was with the help of aliens! :)

After walking for 3 days through some amazing and not so amazing primary forest, we came to Bada Valley, which is home to a large collection of megaliths. I say some not so amazing forest because along the way we ran into multiple tracks of newly cleared and burned land. It was quite depressing to walk through large expanses of destroyed (often national park) forest knowing that a week, month or year before it used to be alive and well. In the Philippines we did not see that much primary forest and though it was sad, it had long been destroyed and therefore we were apt to see the possibilities for rehabilitation. Yet, in the newly denude areas, its hard to imagine it ever getting any better and its heart wrenching knowing that what has happened to the forests of the 'Pines 30 years ago is only now happening to the area surround Lore Lindu. As we walked we lamented and tried to foretell the future of the area as well as discuss ways we may contribute to a healthier environment in work and our daily lives.

Once in Bada Valley our sadness was temporarily pushed to the back of our minds. The scenery was vastly different from the mountains of the park. The valley has been inhabited by agricultural peoples for centuries and it shows in the vast grasslands and rice fields, but these only added to it character.

We hired a guide for a day hike that was to lead us through the part of the valley which is most heavily laden with megaliths. This hike lead us first through the rice paddies where a few stones lay askew in the thick of the grass. Our favorite here was the "monkey" figure who was short and squat and not entirely monkey-ish. Then we went through an area filled with large urns. The climax of the trip was through the brown valley to the site of a large male rock. This rock is out in the middle of nowhere with no other megaliths near it (very strange). It stood about 12ft about the ground and was impressive with its perfectly circular eyes and symmetrical nose.