Mahat (Sumatra)  –  Archaeological and Anthropological Investigations in the Valley of Stones

Dominik Bonatz

Mahat (locally called Maek) is the name of a valley in the Lima Puluh Kota Regency of West Sumatra Province in Indonesia, enclosed by high mountain ranges and thereby geographically isolated from its surroundings. From a contemporary ethnic perspective, it lies on the northeastern edge of the lands of the Minangkabau. Preliminary investigations in this area, particularly those conducted by the applicant and his team (see the project “Telling Stones”), have shown that within this settlement area of only 50 km2, approximately 788 megaliths still exist today at 18 locations. Most of them were erected in groups of 6 to 368 stones at a single site. Originally, however, the number of megaliths in Mahat must have been considerably higher. The only excavations carried out so far in Mahat by Indonesian archaeologists, conducted in 1995 at Bawah Parit, documented that human burials are located beneath the megaliths, indicating that their primary function was as grave markers. The uncalibrated dating of human bone remains yielded a date of 2000 ± 100 years before present. The paper aims to present the objectives of a project planned in cooperation with the Research Center for Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN).  Establishing the absolute age and chronology of the megaliths in Mahat will be possible through excavations of the associated burials at various megalithic sites. The identification of the settlements associated with these burial sites, which have so far been securely identified for only two locations, will provide a clearer picture of the pattern of early settlement activities in Mahat and help to reconstruct the settlement history. Using modern methods of landscape archaeology, osteology, and ancient DNA analysis, important questions concerning past living conditions and the possible origins of the first settlers in Mahat can be addressed. Closely linked to this is the cultural-anthropological approach, in which the history and origins of the Minangkabau, one of the most significant ethnic groups in the Indonesian archipelago, represent an important research question. Finally, the project will continue a long-standing and unparalleled German–Indonesian collaboration in the fields of archaeological research and heritage conservation.