S41-6

Research on Stone Vats in Lore Highland, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

The Research Center for Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology

The Research Organization for Archaeology, Language, and Literature

The National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Stone vats in Indonesia are distributed across Sumbawa Island (West Nusa Tenggara Province), Minahasa (North Sulawesi Province), Toraja and Seko (South Sulawesi Province), Kayan Mentarang Highland (North Kalimantan Province), and Samosir (North Sumatera Province). This paper will discuss recent research on the stone vats (kalambas) in the Lore Highland area, Poso Regency of Central Sulawesi. The Stone vats in this highland are found in three valleys, Bada, Behoa, and Napu. Their presence in this region was first reported by Albert C. Kruyt in 1908, followed by further expert observations. More extensive surveys and archaeological excavations carried out by Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (the National Research Centre of Archaeology) took place 1976, and were then resumed from 1995 until 2021. Our recent surveys have revealed that the stone vats (kalambas) in Lore Highland area are usually found in association with archaeological structures and features such as megalithic statues, dolmens, stone enclosure, cup mark stone, stone troughs, stone trays (dulang), stone pedestal/pillar, monoliths with pictures, stone structures, and earthenware burial jars. Dating of excavated archaeological deposits in the Lore Highlands suggests ages for human activity from 2030±30 BP to 897±24 BP. The vats themselves are thought to have been produced before 1908±23 BP, although forest clearing into grassland in the region might have been happened much earlier, around 3500 BP. The results of previous research, such as excavated finds, language, and genetics will also be discussed in this paper in brief.