Paintings on the Walls of the Stone Chamber at the Lembak City Site

Reflections on the Relationship between Religion and Culture in the Megalithic Society of Pasemah, South Sumatra

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_21How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Painting; Stone Chamber; Pasemah; Megalithic; Religion; Symbol; South Sumatra

Abstract

The Pasemah megalithic site in South Sumatra is known for its diverse prehistoric stone heritage, including menhirs, menhir groups, tetraliths, dolmens, stone statues, stone chambers, and stone rings, etc. One of the unique features of this site is the paintings on the walls of the stone chambers, which are only found in the Pasemah area in Indonesia. The paintings depict human and animal figures that are rich in symbolic meaning. Using an archaeological approach that combines cultural and religious contexts, this study reveals the meaning behind these paintings. The paintings on the walls of the stone chambers are believed to be provisions for the spirits’ journey to their final resting place, created as a tribute to deceased ancestors or leaders. In addition to serving as grave ornaments, these paintings reflect the belief system and religious practices of the Pasemah megalithic community, particularly their belief in life after death. The paintings are a medium of spiritual expression as well as a means of communication with the supernatural world. Thus, this art form affirms the important role of art as a bridge between religion and culture, while also adding to our understanding of the social and spiritual life of the Pasemah megalithic community in South Sumatra.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Rr. Triwurjani
AU  - Zusneli Zubir
AU  - Refisrul Refisrul
AU  - Lutfi Yondri
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - Paintings on the Walls of the Stone Chamber at the Lembak City Site
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 245
EP  - 256
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_21
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_21
ID  - Triwurjani2026
ER  -