Houses of the Dead by Alistair Barclay David Field Jim Leary

Author:Alistair Barclay, David Field, Jim Leary [Alistair Barclay, David Field, Jim Leary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Archaeology, History
ISBN: 9781789254112
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2020-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE – INDONESIA

Within Indonesian vernacular traditions elaborate roof structures that variously curve up and outwards like the prows of a ship or rise centrally to extravagant heights (Dawson and Gillow 1994) appear to belie the minimalist view of roof width-span advanced thus far. Since they are technologically appropriate to European Neolithic populations, they demand consideration. Note must, however, be taken of environmental context. In the rainforests of Indonesia, the roofs of vernacular structures – extravagant or otherwise – are largely constructed of lightweight materials: e.g. bamboo for purlins and rafters; palm leaves for thatching (Dawson and Gillow 1994; Schefold and Nas 2008). This has an obvious bearing on the load transmitted by a roof and the structural underpinning required.

Whatever their shape, roofs of Indonesian longhouses are almost invariably supported by a grid-like, hard wood framework of vertical piles and horizontal beams that takes the load straight to the ground (Schefold et al. 2004). This purely morticed and pegged framework, rising from stilts below a suspended floor, furnishes a rigid cellular skeleton within which rooms are created; walls simply comprise lightweight screens suspended from it. Significantly for the current discussion, horizontal elements of these frameworks rarely span widths in excess of 3–5 m. Thus, despite their extravagant roofs, origin/ancestor houses like the celebrated tongkonan of the Toraja of Sulawesi (Waterson 2000) are often small and cramped inside.

Communal longhouses are larger. For example, those on Siberut (uma belonging to 5–10 families and used for ritual and festive occasions) achieve widths of 10 m or so, and lengths sometimes in excess of 30 m (Schefold 2008). They are constructed around transverse post and beam variants of H frame construction that both divide the house into bays around 5 m in length and create longitudinal ‘aisle’ post lines. Resemblance to British Neolithic house plans is striking and significantly transverse beams rarely bridge gaps greater than 2–3 m (Schefold 2008, fig. 14). Similar measurements apply to Alas communal houses constructed on the more common grid framework, uprights being commonly spaced only 2.5–5 m apart (Nas and Iwabuchi 2008, 36–7, fig. 13).

Amongst these limited spans (comparable to, or even less than, the European examples discussed above) those of the great communal houses of the Karo Batak of Sumatra are an exception. Within an interior space uncluttered by partitions up to eight families can be accommodated (Dawson and Gillow 1994, 38–40, 49). An example at Lingga studied by Domenig (2008, 58–73) measured some 9 × 12 m between corner posts and typically for the tradition had a huge roof supported by 10 m tall ridge posts. These were seated on a central beam that was suspended some 2 m above the open living area of the house. While this beam received additional support from two slender posts resting on the house floor, companion beams at the eaves had free spans of some 10 m (Domenig 2008, 63–9, figs 15 and 16). Here it seems lies a measure of support for the hypothesis that long barrow edging structures could have been roofed.

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