Bawömataluo (Nias)

The village stands on a hill on level ground about 400 metres (1,300 ft) above mean sea level, reached by concrete steps. The hill is oriented from southeast to northwest and covers an area of about 5 hectares (12 acres). It lies 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the sea coast, above the height likely to be reached by any tsunami, and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Teluk Dalam port. The settlement is planned to fit the topography, a spring provides adequate water, and it is surrounded by valleys and deep gorges.

The megalithic monuments are positioned in vertical and horizontal directions and are called locally daro-daro and naitaro respectively; daro-daro represents males and naitaro represents females. The funerary site where the stones are found is on terraced land approached by climbing 7 stone steps in the first stage and 70 in the second (a total of 80 steps is also mentioned). Two stone-paved roads run on either side of the megalithic stones, each for about 300 metres (980 ft), ending at the house of the chief or king of the community at the southwestern end of the settlement.

The chief's house measures 19 by 30 metres (62 ft × 98 ft) and is said to be the oldest and largest on Nias; it is believed to date back to the eighteenth century. It is built with large wooden beams in the interior, and contains a drum used to signal the start and end of meetings, wood carvings and an array of pig jaw bones. A large stone throne at the entrance is used by the chief, and beside it is a phallus carved from stone. Outside the house are stone tables on which dead bodies used to be left to rot.

The earliest traditionally built houses stand on both sides of the road, facing each other across a space of 4 metres (13 ft). The entire complex consists of 500 houses, each with a household head, housing a population of 7,000. The houses are made of carved wood, and the size of each house and a feature at its entrance denote the status of the family. Warriors were trained in the past by jumping a stone wall 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) high, fitted at the top with sharp-edged sticks; in present practice the sticks are removed for ceremonial jumping.