Wainyapu | |
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Location in Indonesia | |
Coordinates: 9°37′52″S119°00′28″E / 9.630983504°S 119.00785583°E | |
Country | Indonesia |
Region | Lesser Sunda Islands |
Province | East Nusa Tenggara |
Regency | Sumba Barat Daya |
Time zone | UTC+8 (WITA / UTC) |
Waiyapu is a traditional village (desa) on Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia.
It has some 1,400 dolmens - one of the highest concentrations of these megaliths on Sumba.
Waiyapu is on the south-west coast of Sumba, about 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) from the western tip of the island and 200 kilometers (120 mi) west of Waingapu. It stands on the south side of the estuary of the Luku Lambatama river. [1] [2] The traditional village of Ratenggaro is within sight, just on the other side of the river. [3]
Administratively, it is a village (desa) in Kodi Balaghar district, in Southwest Sumba Regency (Sumba Barat Daya). [4]
Wainyapu, a Kodi [lower-alpha 1] village, has some 1,400 dolmens — one of the highest concentrations on Sumba. [6] This island is the last place on Earth where some cultures still follow the traditions of the hill tribes of South-East Asia and commonly build megaliths such as dolmens for collective graves. [7] About 100 megalithic tombs are still built each year (as of 2021). These tombs are more frequent in the west part of Sumba, [6] inhabited by segmentary societies made of clans and of politically autonomous villages. [8]
Wainyapu follows the typical set-up where the dolmens are mainly within the village, many of them in front of the lineage's main house. Some dolmens are also outside the village in the fields or near the pastures. [6]
Wainyapu owns a lime quarry that provides the huge slabs needed for the dolmens. In 2008, Anakalang prince Umbu Dingu ordered a 16-tons stone to cover the tomb of his father Reda Ana Buni. This stone slab was manually pulled by about 400 men from the quarry to the village on tree trunk rollers. The complete process of negociations, extraction, paring, transport over some 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) and animal sacrifices, required some 4,000 personnes and took two years to achieve. [9]
A dolmen or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton".
Sumba, natively also spelt as Humba, Hubba, Suba, or Zuba is an Indonesian island located in the Eastern Indonesia and administratively part of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial territory. Sumba has an area of 11,243.78 square kilometres, about the same size as Jamaica or Hawaii (Island). The population was 686,113 at the 2010 Census and 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 820,506. To the northwest of Sumba is Sumbawa, to the northeast, across the Sumba Strait, is Flores, to the east, across the Savu Sea, is Timor, and to the south, across part of the Indian Ocean, is Australia.
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
Waingapu is the largest town in the eastern half of Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. It is the capital town of the East Sumba Regency.
Bondowoso Regency is a landlocked regency in East Java, Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,560.10 km2, and had a population of 736,772 at the 2010 Census and 776,151 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 796,911. The most common languages are Madurese and Javanese, although Madurese is the majority. The nearest large city is Surabaya, approximately five hour's drive away.
The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites near the south coast of Brittany in northwestern France, consisting of stone alignments (rows), dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. More than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local granite and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany and form the largest such collection in the world. Most of the stones are within the Breton municipality of Carnac, but some to the east are within neighboring La Trinité-sur-Mer. The stones were erected at some stage during the Neolithic period, probably around 3300 BC, but some may date to as early as 4500 BC.
This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures.
Concentrations of megaliths, dolmens and stone labyrinths dating between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. have been found throughout the Caucasus Mountains, including Abkhazia. Most of them are represented by rectangular structures made of stone slabs or cut in rocks with holes in their facade. These dolmens cover the Western Caucasus on both sides of the mountain ridge, in an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres of Russia and Abkhazia.
West Sumba Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara Province of Indonesia. Established in 1958, the regency was considerably reduced on 2 January 2007 with the creation of new Regencies on Sumba Island under Law UU No.16 of that year. Its area is now 737.42 km2, and its population was 110,993 at the 2010 census and 145,097 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 152,414. It has its seat (capital) in (Kota) Waikabubak.
Gavrinis is a small island in the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, France. It contains the Gavrinis tomb, a Neolithic passage tomb built around 4200–4000 BC, making it one of the world's oldest surviving buildings. Stones inside the passage and chamber are covered in megalithic art. It is likened to other Neolithic passage tombs such as Barnenez in Brittany and Newgrange in Ireland.
The Cairn of Barnenez is a Neolithic monument located near Plouezoc'h, on the Kernéléhen peninsula in northern Finistère, Brittany (France). It dates to the early Neolithic, about 4800 BC. Along with the Tumulus of Bougon and Locmariaquer megaliths, also located in Great West France, it is one of the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe and one of the oldest man-made structures in the world. It is also remarkable for the presence of megalithic art.
Southwest Sumba Regency is a regency on Sumba Island in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Established on 2 January 2007 out of parts of West Sumba Regency, the regency has its seat (capital) in Tambolaka. Its population was 283,818 in the 2010 decennial census and had risen to 303,650 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 322,073 (comprising 164,825 males and 157,248 females
In the area of present-day Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, up to 5,000 megalith tombs were erected as burial sites by people of the Neolithic Funnelbeaker (TRB) culture. More than 1,000 of them are preserved today and protected by law. Though varying in style and age, megalith structures are common in Western Europe, with those in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern belonging to the youngest and easternmost—further east, in the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland, monuments erected by the TRB people did not include lithic structures, while they do in the south (Brandenburg), west and north (Denmark).
Nordic megalith architecture is an ancient architectural style found in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia and North Germany, that involves large slabs of stone arranged to form a structure. It emerged in northern Europe, predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC. It was primarily a product of the Funnelbeaker culture. Between 1964 and 1974, Ewald Schuldt in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania excavated over 100 sites of different types: simple dolmens, extended dolmens, passage graves, great dolmens, unchambered long barrows, and stone cists. In addition, there are polygonal dolmens and types that emerged later, for example, the Grabkiste and Röse. This nomenclature, which specifically derives from the German, is not used in Scandinavia where these sites are categorised by other, more general, terms, as dolmens, passage graves and stone cists.
The dolmen del prado de Lácara is a megalithic monument known as a passage tomb. It is located northwest of the Spanish city of Mérida, in the province of Badajoz. It is located next to the EX-214 road, which connects Aljucén with La Nava de Santiago. It is a notable megalithic tomb, built during the late Neolithic towards the end of the 4th millennium BC or early 3rd millennium BC. It is one of the most monumental and well preserved sites in the Extremadura region, which is why it was declared a site of cultural interest in 1912 and a National Monument in 1931.
Anakalang is a village area (desa) and a small kingdom in the western part of Sumba island, in eastern Indonesia. It is noted for numerous megalithic tombs and its quadrangular adzes.
Hotié, Hostié or Maison de Viviane, also known as Tombeau des Druides is a megalithic tomb in Paimpont, Ille-et-Vilaine, in Brittany. The Hotié de Viviane is one of the prehistoric monuments in the Forest of Brocéliande cursorily described in the 19th century, but more recently, following the fires that have periodically devastated the forest, rediscovered and excavated by local groups. Legend makes it the home of the fairy Viviane, where she held the enchanter Merlin imprisoned. Another legend equates it with the esplumoir Merlin. When the location of the Val sans retour, a place figuring in medieval Arthurian literature, was identified with the Val de Rauco in the 19th century, the megalithic site near the Gurvant valley took the name of Hotié de Viviane. Hotié de Viviane is also sometimes identified as Tombeau de Viviane.
The Siureda dolmen is a rectangular dolmen with a simple plan located in Maureillas-las-Illas, in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, at the eastern end of the Pyrenees. Its name derives from the Catalan word for "cork oak wood".
The dolmen of Coma Enestapera, or Coma Estapera, is located in Cerbère, in the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales in the Occitanie region.