Minister of Culture and Tourism encourages sustainable preservation of Lore Lindu Megalithic Site

JAKARTA – Minister of Culture (Menbud) Fadli Zon emphasized the importance of efforts to protect and manage the sustainable management of cultural heritage sites in the Lore Lindu megalithic area, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi.

This area is considered to hold high-value prehistoric heritage that needs to be protected and wisely utilized.

“We must protect this wealth, we develop it, and we use it responsibly as cultural tourism and historical tourism, without neglecting the principle of preservation,” said Menbud Fadli in his official statement received in Jakarta.

During his working visit, Menbud Fadli reviewed a number of important sites in the Lore Lindu area, including the Tadulako, Pokekea, and Tambi Megalithic Sites. The visit is part of the government’s cultural agenda to strengthen commitment in the protection, development, and utilization of cultural heritage, especially prehistoric relics that have an important meaning for the history of civilization.

Various megalithic sites in the region reflect the life of past communities with a wealth of archaeological remains of high value in terms of history and science.

When visiting the Pokekea Megalithic Site, Menbud Fadli Zon emphasized that the megalithic area in Central Sulawesi has a strategic position in the history of the Nusantara civilization. He said, the traces of the culture that remain are strong evidence that this region has played an important role in the long journey of Indonesian culture.

“The age of archaeological remains in this area reaches more than 4,000 years, even in some places it is estimated to be up to 8,000 years old. This shows that Central Sulawesi is an important part of the very old Nusantara civilization,” he said.

The Pokekea Megalitik Site itself has been designated as a National Heritage Site. This area is in the form of a stretch of grassland that stores various megalithic relics, such as sculptures, kalamba, kalamba lids, dolmens, hollow stones, lumps, trays, umpak, pottery fragments, to jars.

The existence of various findings indicates the level of advanced civilization in its time, with the function of the site as a residential area, burial, and a worship center for prehistoric people.

However, Menbud Fadli also highlighted the challenges in efforts to preserve the site, ranging from the threat of vandalism to the effects of extreme weather and climate change that have the potential to accelerate rock damage.

Therefore, he hopes that the national status attached to the Pokekea Site can encourage wider recognition by the public.

“As a site that has been designated as a national ranking, the Pokekea Cultural Heritage Site is expected to be increasingly known by the community, and we promote it not only to the people of Central Sulawesi and the archipelago, but also to the world, that this civilization clearly shows a civilization that is quite high at the time,” he said.

Apart from promotion, Menbud Fadli Zon also emphasized the importance of further research to reveal more deeply the life and culture of prehistoric people in the area.

The Ministry of Culture, he said, is committed to protecting, developing, and utilizing prehistoric cultural heritage sustainably through an integrated conservation approach, strengthening research, and expanding promotion.

With this step, it is hoped that megalithic sites in Central Sulawesi will not only be maintained, but also be able to enrich the treasure of knowledge, strengthen the cultural identity of the nation, and provide tangible benefits for the community and future generations.

“In the future, our challenge is to conduct further research so that the past civilizations in this region can be revealed in more depth. We believe that the cultural assets here show that the Nusantara civilization is a very old and rich civilization,” he said.

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