WHEN migrants from mainland SE Asia started seeping into the Indonesian islands around 2500BC, bring­ing the practice of settl­ed agriculture with them, it gave rise to ancestor cults and the spectacular­ megalithic cultures of Sumba, Nias and Batakland and, to a lesser extent, the me­galithic cultures of northern Sulawesi (Airmadidi), Flores (Bajawa), Bali (Lake Tamblingan) and Java (Bondowoso).

At these locales, to this day, are found worn