The carvings may be related to a 2,000-year-old culture that carved megaliths in Laos, Cambodia, and other parts of Indonesia. However, the arca menhirs and kalambas are found nowhere else in Asia.
"That's the curious thing," Pollard explained. "That's one of the reasons no one knows what these carvings are for, because we can't relate them to anything else in the world…if these stones didn't exist, we wouldn't even know the culture existed. It was too long ago, before recorded history."
The surrounding forest harbors more than the strange stone carvings. Second only to Madagascar in number of endemic animals, Sulawesi has many unusual creatures.
The rare babirusa, "resembling both a pig and a hippopotamus," according to The Nature Conservancy's mammal surveys, has spiraled tusks that grow through the roof of its mouth, curling back over its eyes. The equally rare tarsier is a tiny, monogamous primate that only comes out after dark. Weighing a mere 65 grams, it is the world's smallest primate. First discovered in 1917, it's only been recorded a handful of times since.
Snakes are more plentiful in Lore Lindu. There are 68 species in the park, including the largest snake in the world, the reticulated python. It's been known to eat people. The python is found throughout Southeast Asia, but the biggest one ever found—30 feet [4.5 meters] from head to tail—was in Sulawesi.
Forest Under Threat
The park also has many unusual birds. Of its 227 bird species, 77 are found only in Sulawesi. One example is the endangered maleo bird. It buries a single egg in hot sand near geothermal springs, letting the heat incubate its young while it digs false pits nearby to trick predators.
The giant allo, with a five-foot (1.5-meter) wing span, has even more unusual nesting habits. The male, with help from the female, builds a mud wall to close her inside a tree trunk hole, leaving a slit where he can slip her food. She's stuck there until she lays her eggs. Their loud cries sound like harsh laughter, bringing an eerie resonance to an already peculiar place.
Unfortunately, the magnificent forest with its unique life-forms and ancient carvings is in trouble. There are 60 villages along the park's border. Migrants, many pouring in from Java and Bali, have doubled the local population in just 20 years.
The burgeoning population, combined with Indonesia's devastated economy, may spell doom for Lore Lindu's art and animals. In June of this year, the eastern edge was invaded by hundreds of squatters, who are clearing large patches of the forest for agriculture. When park officials ordered them to leave, they refused and threatened violence.
Like all of Indonesia's national parks, this one is vulnerable to the political upheaval that has plagued the country, undermining its laws. It's uncertain whether Lore Lindu's megaliths and maleos will survive in a country where national parks offer no guarantee of protection.
Jennifer Hile is a freelance photojournalist and videographer based in Irvine, California. She recently traveled for six months in Borneo and Sulawesi.
National Geographic Today, 7 p.m. ET/PT in the United States, is a daily news magazine available only on the National Geographic Channel. Click here to request it.
