ABSTRACT
In the quadrangular and beaked adzes of Malaya’s late neolithic (2000–1500 b.c.) slept the talent of a race destined to carve the bas-reliefs of Bara-Budur and Prambanan. Static crouching figures with hands folded over knee or chest, crude stone sculpture from Java and Sumatra, have been ascribed to this Indonesian stone culture. To-day this primitive megalithic art survives among the Nagas of Assam, in Luzon and on the island of Nias; buffalo motifs in Celebes designs indicate its passage down to Oceania. In Malaya, if it is to be traced at all, it has lasted in the shape of a brooch (dokoh) which especially in Negri Sembilan continues to display its derivation from the buffalo-horns that adorn the roof-trees of Batak houses and are memorials of the feasts given by the Malay’s neolithic ancestors to increase their prestige in this world and the next.
