The purpose for which the megaliths were created remains a mystery. It is not known when they were carved, there are no tools or other traces by which one could determine the time of creation and attribute the statues to any culture.
Lore Lindou National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is known as one of the most unusual places on earth. It is home to birds that laugh like humans and primates three inches high (the size of a mouse).
Megaliths have been discovered in the park - huge statues carved from granite, the origin of which no one can explain.
The most unusual park on earth
National Park in Sulawesi, with an area of over 2000 sq. km, unites a variety of ecosystems of lowland and mountain tropical forests. It is known both for its unusual inhabitants and for its huge granite idols, it is not clear by whom and for what purpose, created in this area.
Megaliths range in size from a few inches to 15 feet (4.5 m) high. No one knows who cut them, when or why. According to local legend, they were once living criminals who turned to stone and remained so forever.
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Until recently, the existence and location of the stone statues was not officially documented. The American Geographical Society Expedition helped Indonesian officials locate and register about 400 megaliths in and around the park.
Among the ancient statues, about 30 have human forms. Some of them were found thrown into the river, their massive faces and eyes covered with mud and silt. Some are found in rice fields, in thickets of tall grasses.
Features of idols
Locals believe that some of the statues were used for ancestor worship. It is said that one idol named Tokalae was a rapist who turned to stone. Residents consider deep cuts on the rock to be scars from a knife. Another megalith is named Tadulako. He was the headman of the village and turned to stone after stealing rice. So he remained forever looking across the field at the village, which he had betrayed.
All the statues have huge heads, round eyes, all of them without legs, although many have genitals. Many stand alone, sometimes in pairs or in small groups.
Also found are huge stone urns, which the locals call kalambas. Perhaps they were used as water tanks or coffins. Locals believe that these were fonts (baths) for the nobility. But the American archaeologist Edward Polard does not share this version, since the granite bathtubs are too heavy to carry around for washing. The puns left for many centuries are overgrown with grass and flowers.
Nearby, stone tablets were found with cavities in which they could grind food, grind something. Also found are cracked carved stone tables that could have been altars.
The purpose for which they were all created remains a mystery. It is not known when they were carved, there are no tools or other traces that could determine the time of creation and attribute them to any culture.
They can refer to the culture of 2000 years ago, when the carved megaliths of Laos, Cambodia and other regions of Indonesia appeared. However, such megaliths and puns are not found anywhere else in Asia.
Edward Pollard noted: “No one knows for what purpose these statues were created, since there are no other analogues in the world, and it is not known what culture they belong to. It is only known that they were created a very long time ago, long before the appearance of the annals”.