15 kilometers south of Lore Lindou National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, there is an area called the Bad Valley. There are several carved megaliths here, reminiscent of the Moai statues on Easter Island. Megaliths have a straight body, a disproportionately large head, round eyes, and prominent horizontal lines at the site of the eyebrows, cheeks and chin. Most of them stand alone, half buried in the ground and overgrown with long grass. Others lie in rivers. At the moment, more than 400 megaliths have been found in this area, but only about 30 of them have human outlines.
Even though the site was discovered over 100 years ago, very little is known about the ancient culture that created these monoliths. Scientists do not even know when they appeared. Only approximate figures are sounded - from 1000 to 5000 years ago.
The locals knew about these megaliths long before the Europeans discovered them. Based on their sex, which can be easily identified by the highly visible genitals, the statues were given different names. One of the male statues in the local language is called Palindo (He who entertains), and is 4 meters tall and is the largest megalith in the valley. Another statue with a female figure is called Langke Bulawa (Golden Bracelet) and is 1.8 meters tall.
Local legends
The local population has composed many fairy tales around these characters. In one of them, Palindo was told to be a court jester and was placed in front of the king's ancient palace. In those days, fierce battles raged between the local tribes, which disturbed the serenity of Palindo and after which he bent to the ground.
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There is also a less likable character here - Tokala'ea, who was a rapist turned to stone. Deep cuts in the stone symbolize knife scars. Another monolith named Tadulako was once the protector of the settlement, but for stealing rice it was turned into a piece of granite.
Calamba
These statues are not the only megaliths in the region. We mentioned above that over 400 carvings were found here. Some of them, called kalamba, are like pots and cisterns.
According to local folklore, these are ancient baths in which kings bathed. In fact, kalambas were most likely used to store grain. Some have large, heavy lids. Next to some of the puns are tiles with cavities, probably used to grind food.
It is very strange that not a single tool, remains of settlements or other signs of society that created these stone figures were found near the megaliths.
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