Viral Residents Find Megalithic Site in Illegal Gold Mine Area Poso

PALU - A resident of Dongi-Dongi Village, North Lore District, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi, found a megalithic site in an illegal gold mining area, in the Lore Lindu National Park (TNLL) area.

"Greetings of culture. I am now in the Dongi-Dongi mining area. This is a soaking area. So I found something very unique. There is a picture of a human face on this rock. Like in Napu," said the resident in a video quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 5.

The video was also uploaded via Antun Lawani Mosiang's Facebook account. The video recording shows a large-sized stone that has carvings resembling human faces, similar to the kalamba stone that is widely found in the Napu Valley.

This discovery has come under scrutiny because its location is in an area that is said to be soon to be excavated using heavy machinery. In fact, there is an area for soaking soil material that will be processed into gold.

"There are several seeds of this discovery today. If this can be held, how is it, rescue or how is it discussed. Because this candidate wants to dig all of this, wants to dig this excavator," he said.

According to him, the location of the discovery is already within the territory controlled by the company.

"This is a company area. If it is not saved, this can dig all of this. Because this has been held by the company," he said.

The man in the video, confirmed that the size of the stone was quite large and had a distinctive feature.

"The diameter of this is quite large. So one of the findings that has a face in our area. This is very unique," he said.

The Dongi-Dongi gold mine has been known as an unlicensed mining location (PETI) in the TNLL area. Although it was closed permanently in December 2021, illegal mining activities are reported to often occur again and are dominated by miners from outside the area.

This activity not only has the potential to damage the conservation forest ecosystem, but is now also feared to threaten the sustainability of cultural heritage which is suspected to be a megalithic relic in Central Sulawesi.