Changes in Tolaki People Burial in Southeast Sulawesi: From Boat-Shaped Grave Coffin (Soronga) to Boat-Shaped Islamic Tomb (Koburu Bangga)

The first burial system of Tolaki people in prehistoric times and ancient times adopted boat-shaped grave coffin known as soronga or oduni. There were large and small soronga and there were also decorated and undecorated or plain soronga. When Islam was introduced in the Mekongga Kingdom during the leadership of King/Bokeo Laduma in 17 th century and in Konawe in 18 th century, the burial system was adopted. However, the tradition of using boats experienced a change. During the Islamic era, there were two shapes of grave in the Islamic grave called as ninggeo-nggeo where the grave was placed in a hole made on the side of the excavation and tinandapa where the grave was placed in a hole made in the middle of the excavation and it was intended for elite and influential ruler. There were also four models of tomb types, namely circle (buboto/loelole), rectangular (konahuu), rectangular step pyramid, elongated (menda’a), and boat-shaped (obangga). koburu bangga tomb. The distribution pattern of the tombs varied, there were converging (metobu), circular, and spreading patterns. The shape of tombstone also varied, it resembled pappilus genital, round stone, wide wood and stone, human head, knights grinding stone (oliro). It was made of stone, river stone, mountain stone, wood, and even tree was also used as a tomb marker. The boat-typed tomb still maintained because a faith that the deceased need vehicles to go to their destination. It is also affected by maritime world at the past as well as technology that lived in the past used by a collective memory.


Introduction
Each ethnic group in this archipelago country has different burial model and system, for example, Toraja uses grave stone coffin resembling boat known as erong and Tolaki uses grave boat resembling boat known as soronga or oduni. Burial culture in the form of erong coffin can be found in (Duli, 1999), research on soronga is only limited to conservation conducted by archeology students and discussions about the existence of soronga grave coffin from aspects of history, function, structure, completeness, as well as culture continuing to this day, such as the boat-shaped tombs (koburu bangga) has yet been done. Until now, former secondary cemeteries still can be found in caves or kumopo located in the mainland of Southeast Sulawesi.
The existence of ancient tombs during the traditional Kingdom of Komawa and Mekonga still can be found, but their existence is threatened with extinction. It is because no one knows that they have valuable historical value, so no one has willingness to protect and preserve them. Many models of ancient tombs have been lost due to eviction, land processing, or development purposes. In this land, we still can find ancient tombs with various shapes, models, and characteristics. However, research on soronga system burial and boat-shaped tomb known as koburu bangga has yet conducted widely by experts. Austronesian people have known the form of burial by keeping the corpses in caves or in grave coffins, where Tolaki people called it as soronga.
The cave can be proven as a place for burial from the discovery of craved and uncraved soronga. Other evidences are materials found in the cave, such as the discovery of grave coffin or kumapo or soronga. Therefore, it confirms that the cave is functioned as cemetery. In addition, piles of skulls and bones are also found inside the soronga in the cave (kumapo).
In the past, Tolaki people rested their deceased in soronga (boat-shaped grave coffin).
Before the corpse was brought to the cave or kumapo to be stored, funeral had been arranged while drying the corpse. During the drying process, the pus water fell into a jar. After only skulls and bones remained, the corpse and the jar were put in soronga grave coffin.
Various types of burials were found to resemble boats, is this an indication of the previous culture in which the burial was done in the cave using a soronga. It can be concluded that burial tradition of Tolaki people tend to adopt the previous burial system (Yasni et al. 2019). Aspects related to Tolaki's burial system have not been studied by experts. Many ancient tombs are not preserved and abandoned because the heirs of the tombs are unknown. If it is in detail, the tombs have unique pattern, shape and model. There is a hypothesis that there are several models and patterns of burial of the Tolaki people, which is thought to be a continuation of the previous period.
Soronga Culture, Boat-Shaped Grave Coffin The forms and types of prehistoric burials in Indonesia are found to be varied. If the corpse is directly buried in the ground, it is called as primary burial and if the corpse is not directly buried in the ground, in which only some or specific bones are buried, it is called secondary burial. Both primary and secondary burial have their own types and characteristics. According to Soejono (1981), in Southeast Asia, prehistoric burial system has been introduced since the epipaleolithic period. The graves adopted secondary burial type with selective secondary burial and primary burial type with fixed position. Indonesia used to adopt temporary openair burial and burial system has introduced around meolothic period and it continues to develop upin later times. According to data collected, there are four systems to lay the corpse, namely stretched, lexed, crounched atausquatted, and prostrate position. The burial system in prehistoric time can be categorized into four types: (a) direct inhumation, including primary burial with and without coffin, (b) indirect inhumation, including secondary burial without coffin either complete or selective burial, secondary burial with a new, wooden, or burnt clay coffin or selective secondary burial, (c) combination inhumation, including primary and secondary burial without coffin or primary burial without coffin and secondary burial with coffin, and (d) exposed deposition that often continues with selective secondary burial.
Tolaki people adopt burial system of secondary burial type using boat-shaped coffin soronga (Muslimin 1992). It is evidence that the skull cave was used as a burial place for their ancestor put in pottery and ceramics jars. This is supported by the discovery of human bone fragments and several quiet dense pottery and ceramic fragments (Mahmud 2011, 126-127). A soronga grave coffin was found in North Pakue Kolaka Utara in 1982, to be precise in Tonggolasi cave, North Pakue Kolaka district. It has length of 4.75 m and width of 70 cm. According to the tradition, the boat-shaped grave coffin belongs to Lamasore, the first Mokole of Kodeoha in Northern part of Kolaka.
Only the deceased of a noble or anakia is kept at home in a coffin. If the flesh has been decomposed, then the bones are gathered. The larger anakia is kept in soronga, while the smaller anakia is kept in wooden coffin. Jewelry belonging to the deceased is kept in a smaller soronga next to the bones. The burial of the bones is accompanied with a fancy funeral for 10 days, sometimes a month with many buffaloes are sacrificed (Zlabbekoorn 1937, 46). The arrival of explorers and zendeling illustrates the existence of caves in which soronga are found. In Konaweeha and Tongauna, grave coffins are kept in limestone caves.
Archeological objects related to burial activities are supported by the discovery of Chinese jar fragments, clay jars, human bones, as well as metal and glass artifacts. Characteristics seen in the artifacts (for example, decorative pattern and shapes of pottery, glazes and ceramic materials, variations in metal artifacts, glass bottles) indicates that burial tradition in cave with skulls kept in jars probably dates back from the prehistoric times (the metal period around early 1000 AD) to historical times, at least around the 15 th century as shown by Chinese jar used as grave container from Ming Dynasty. Furthermore, the existence of shale tools (made of obsidian and limestone), polished pickaxes, and pottery jar fragments, as well as combustion residue (either found on the site surface or excavation results) especially in the site of Gua Tengkorak indicating that there was a permanent human activity (Makassar Archaelogical Center 2012, 23). Before Islam was introduced in Kendari and Kolaka, around 250 (two hundred and fifty) years ago, there was no grave found in both regions. When someone died, the deceased was kept in a place resembling a boat and it was covered well to prevent animals/insect to enter the boat. The deceased was laid in a place resembling boat called as Soronga (Figure 1), and then the Soronga was opened to take the bones and put it in a jar. After that, the jar was put in a hole or a cave or kumapo at a height that is not accessible to people, sometimes items loved by the deceased was also put it together, such as plates (opingga), jewelry, weapons (ta'awu), jars (obenggi), and other items (Amirudin et al. 2017).
According to the local residents, this cave is intended as burial site for their ancestor. This is in line with archeological indications found on the cave surface, such as human skulls and bones, ceramic fragments (jars or pots), pottery jar fragments (decorated and undecorated), glass bottle fragment, bronze bracelet fragments, millstones, shell fragments (seashell and landshell), iron artifacts fragments as well as beads and clay statues. If it is seen from the frequency and variants of archaeological discoveries in this cave that is very dense, it indicates that burials in this cave took place intensively from generation to generation, at least until deep into historical (pre-Islamic) times (Makassar Archaelogical Center 2014, 33-34). An official during the Dutch East Indies named HBA. Konggoasa in 1953/1954 during a military operation against the DI/TII with the "Brawijaya" troops at a place not far from a place called "Andolaki", where the Tolaki people, upstream of the Konaweeha river, are now included in the Kolaka area, more firmly in "Watumendonga" there is a "kumapo" which is very similar to human "bone-place" holes in mountain holes, such as those found in "Tanah Toraja" (Konggoasa, 1982).  The duni cover is shaped like a boat and has a length of 90 cm, a width of 40 and a height of 32 cm. If it is viewed from the front, the cover of the duni is triangular. On the side of the cover of the container there is a hole in the shape of a parallelogram. The zigzag decorative motif extends to a half oval shape. This duni container is a rectangle with a size of 70 cm, a width of 40 cm and a height of 28 cm. Each side has each stalk that is up to 18 cm long. The ornamental motif that is also visible is an elongated zigzag which has a circular motif at the end (Makassar Archaelogical Center 2012a; 2012b; 2012c). There are several reasons why boat-shaped grave coffin was used to keep corpse. First, obangga boat was made as a container to keep corpse and then boat-shaped grave coffin (soronga) was made according to the length of the corpse, so there are two types of sorongga the long and the short one. The sort soronga is used by children corpse.
Second, the boat-shaped grave coffin is equipped with decorative boat cover (pinati-pati). There are several patterns found on soronga, such as ine taulu mbaku fern shoots, pine nohu dimple, ani-ani or pine sowi, pinetariwadi, geometric and other patterns. Third, after the corpse is put in the soronga, a hole is made at the end of the coffin.
After that, a porcelain jar or pot (obenggi) functioned as "tirika woa" to collect the pus of the corpse is placed under the soronga. Based on the discovery of the team, the size of the jar or benggi varies, some are small and some large. Tirika woa or a container to contain the pus is called benggi or obenggi made of rock material with brown and black glaciers. The lip of the container is not engraved and there are five ears styled in the form of a lion's head with holes in it placed on the shoulder of the container. Obenggi jar found in Kolaka is now stored near the Laduma tomb plot, in the form of a brown round jar that functions as a container for collecting pus from the corpse, called atirka woa. However, now it is used as a place to hold water which is used to wash hands when visiting the tomb of Bokeo or King Laduma with the title Sangia Nibandera. A team of archaeologist discovered an object that resembled a coffin. Objects resembling a coffin in the cave look unusual because carvings are found on the right and left of the coffin that are thought to contain meaning. Moreover, the coffin is in the middle of a pile of human skulls.
The discovery of this artifact strengthens the suspicion that the cave used to be burial place for certain ethnic group. There are patterns and carvings seen on the object, it looks like a certain carving. The object that looks like a grave coffin is indeed a grave coffin. The local people call it soronga. It is used by the local people to do burial.
Besides, ceramic shards are thought coming from Ming Dynasty and coins from Majapahit kingdom from 14 th century were also discovered. This discovery breaks the assumption of some people who think that the cave full of skull is a place for slaughtering. The Wotika Cave site is administratively included in the Atodopi Village area, Abuki District, Konawe Regency. Astronomically, this site is located at the coordinates of 3 037'49, 32'' South Latitude and 121 0 58'1, 84'' East Longitude with an elevation of 165.52 meters above sea level. Waka cave is an alcove type cave which is located right on a fairly steep cliff, east of the Abuki River (Makassar Archaelogical Center 2014). Soronga fragment also found in Wotika cave (Makassar Archaeological Center 2012).
There are many soronga shapes found In the Southeast Sulawesi area, one of which is soronga found in Pakue and it is stored as the collection of the Southeast Sulawesi Province State Museum. A boat-shaped grave coffin is also found in the Porabua cave, North Ueesi Kolaka District. Boat-   Today, all corpses are buried within 24 hours. The corpse is wrapped in a mat and in a piece of white cloth. A piece of fuya paper is placed around the corpse, the neck and cloth are tied a white cloth and the fuya paper was tied with rattan. Graves are often covered or fenced with planks. On top of the tomb is placed the betel nut or the betel bag belonging to the deceased (Jong 2010). For Islamic people, the deceased first brings to the mosque before the burial process. The body is wrapped with a white cloth (shroud) from above the head, the waist, and to toe. The bottom of the leg is then tied. It is required that inside the burial ploy, the deceased is not directly in contact with the ground. After leaving the mosque, the body is placed on the bale-bale, after a few steps it is placed again and this is repeated twice (Zlabbekoorn 1937). The layout pattern of the Tolaki people's tombs varies, some are centered, some are elongated, and some are longitudinal or lined up. To distinguish the tomb of the leader, it is usually made taller and larger or wider. After Islam was introduced, the burial system of Tolaki people still adopted pre-literate cultural elements or ancient times. It is seen from the tradition of using boat ( Figure 4) that still continues, but the different is that after the corpse was buried, the tomb on top of the grave was built to resemble koburu bangga boat. The tomb was built using an arrangement of rock, woods, and even there is a boat made of cement. A boat-shaped tomb was discovered by Germany explorer, Dr. Johanes Elbert in Lambandia village, it was made of an arrangement of wood to resemble a boat. In addition, there is also a tombstone that resembles human genital. The existence of boat-shaped laika koburu was recorded by Paul and Fritz Sarasin during their expedition from Kolaka to Kendari. A burial house or boat-shaped laika koburu, was reported that, "After half an hour by the river we found a plantation with houses, Lereti, and nearby, there were fields, some old graves, some new graves, really the city of the dead. All of tombs here have small dimensions, rectangular shaped handles made of woven or planks with a height of over 1 m and filled with soil to the top; a roof was made above the pillars with decoration without art. The wooden frame located on the terrace is made of clay, usually faces north-south and usually westeast. The tombs contain additional clothing and daily necessities. Apart from that, other objects were hung from ropes, suits and armor of the dead. Inside the coffin we also noticed two humanshaped statues made of wood. It was very rough like those made by children, consisting only of the head and upper body (Sarasin & Sarasin 1905, 123-124). There are several important points that should be noted from the above, first the cemetery ground both the old and new graves. Second, the graves have mound using board to hold the ground, the presence of tools above the grave. Third, the shape of the burial house resembles a boat, see Figure 5. A boat-shaped tomb was also discovered in Mokoau Village, Kambu District, Kendari. There were two boat-shaped tombs lined up naturally made of stones arranged to resemble a boat with a stern in the front and back side. This tomb is called koburu bangga. The first tomb has a length of 9.30, diameter of 3.50 cm and the tail width or buritan of 2 m as well as width in the head side of 2 m. It has a gravestone in the form of a wide stone mountain. The height of the tombstone is 40 cm and the width of the headstone is 15 cm. the position of the headstone is right in the middle.
The second tomb has smaller and slender size. This tomb is also called koburu bangga (boatshaped tomb). The length is 6.50 and width of 4.30 cm. It also has tombstone resembling male genital made of river stone with a height of 75 cm and diameter of 40 cm. The shape of the tomb is in the form of a mound is fenced around using a river stone arrangement. The distance between tomb 1 and tomb 2 is about 2 meters. Ecologically, both tombs are located in a very fertile ground, around which there are taipa mango trees, and tributaries. Another boat-shaped tomb can also be found in Buke Village, South Buke Konawe District and even according to the informant in this village, boat-shaped tomb can also be found. Based on our identification, the tomb has a name of Lamanasa, a Tamalaki or knight warrior. According to Mburimburi and Rami, the shape and model of the tomb used to be like a boat made of woods arranged to resemble a boat. Besides, a boat-shaped tomb can also be discovered in Baito Village, Baito District, South Konawe Regency and according to Abdul Rahim, the tomb has a name of Tawulo, an official village head in this area. Tombs having the same model can also be found in Puday Village, West Wongeduku District, Konawe Regency. According to local residents, the tomb is descended from nobles or anakia from Mekongga, whose descendants can still be found in this village. The characteristics of Islamic tombs are usually marked by tombstone stuck on the graves. It is made of stone called watu taholele or tahlilan stone. We also find the boat-shape tomb in Baito Village, Baito District, and South Konawe.
Tolaki people usually take advantage of the position or condition of the hill, in the Tolaki language called as wawombusu or the slope of the earthen mound called as wambusu to create a cemetery ground. Besides, the location of the tomb is near alaa mohewu (small river) or alaa mate (dead river) or close to water sources. Old tombs usually were built around it where the surrounding conditions are shady and cold due to water temperature. Some of Tolaki utilize hilly areas as osu-osu or hills or medium-altitude mountains to place some graves. In addition, family burial plots are usually placed in the lalo una molua area or in the vast grasslands. There are several names for the dead who have been buried for the anakia nobles or the traditional elite, such as tawe dan o'saa, Tawe iKasupute, Tawe iAlowu, Tawe iTaipa, tawe Woisinggote, Tawe kokoti, Sa'a I Padangguni, Sa'a Arubia, Sa'a Kapu-kapu, Sa'a Molore, Sa'a Molawe, etc.
Today, burial places are located several areas. First is near to the settlement or behind the house or ibunggu laika. Second, it is located on a hill or wambusu or near to a mountain. Third is near to the river or alaa. Fourth, is in open area such as weeds (lalo ndongauna atau tongauna). Fifth, is in waworaha or plantation overgrown with various plants, such as reca nut (inea), mango (taipa), durian (duria), langsat (pinisi). These plants are considered shady and they also produce fruits that can be picked by the descendants every year as hanu ine pue or the ancestral heritage of the Waworaha location. In some Waworaha lands, many ancient graves of various shapes were found.
Within 12 hours, the corpse should be buried. Families who come to see the deceased donate money or food ingredients. On that day, if the family is rich, they can sacrifice a buffalo. After that, the deceased was treated according to Islam. The deceased was bathed, shrouded, prayed, and if he/she was a person having position, a funeral ceremony is hold. It is intended to ask for consent from elders and relatives that the deceased is about to be delivered to the resting place. The body is placed in a stretcher covered with a precious cloth, a favorite of the deceased's family. For prominent people, the deceased is placed in a large stretcher, where the closest family can sit in it, so that dozens of people take turns carrying the stretcher to the grave. At each corner of the huuno stretcher, an umbrella made of white cloth is installed, up to 4 umbrellas in total, a sign that before departure a war dance or umoara is held in front of the departure coffin followed by the beating of a certain gong "tumotabua" as a sign that the deceased is a nobleman.
Tolaki people burial has a complex pattern, for example, after the corpse is already near to the grave, the corpse must be brought around the grave several times and then the corpse can be lowered to the grave. Once the grave is filled, a temporary wooden tombstone was placed on top the grave; one temporary tombstone for man and two for woman. After that, a prayer was sent up by religious teachers by reading talqin. After the prayer has finished, people presenting in the burial may go home after a family has conveyed words of gratitude and then come back to funeral home for lunch or dinner. In the evening, the recitation was held at the funeral home until 3 to 7 nights, and then the first stage of ritual is closed. During the ritual performed for several days, several buffaloes and cows are sacrificed. So, the funeral home always served complete food for the dead spirit, this ritual is called "Meharoa". People are not allowed to sleep and they have to play meko-kou, mekadawu, mekatende games, but it is forbidden to perform molulo dance. At the closing of the ritual, families are gathered to discuss the time when the completion of the burial will be held, usually after 40 days, 100 days, or after rice harvest, or in other words, waiting until all members of the family has a free time (Konggoasa 1982).
Evidence of the continuation of burial system with grave goods is explained by the ceramic and pottery fragments spread out on the cave surface functioned as a container to keep skulls and bones of the ancestors as well as grave goods to the spirit realm (Balar, 2011;Balar, 2012). This condition is discovered in the ancient graves in which porcelain, ceramics, pottery, and other fragments spread out on the grave. Tolaki people have faith that their deceased need a boat and grave goods to go to their new world.
Grave goods during the Islamic era can still be found. There is a burial tradition in which the deceased was buried along with a slave to guard him. In this context, guard is form of loyalty and devotion to the leader or employer. In addition, there is also burial tradition by including the grave goods such as valuable items, namely gold wulaa, ta'awu, oliro (Tamalaki whetstone), obenggi, opingga, opiso, porcelain, and etc. The grave goods were discovered from the excavation of several ancient graves in Konawe Village in 1982. When heavy equipment made an embankment, a grave named Taridala (Kapita Ana Molepo) was found and then obenggi (jar), opingga (plat), and some of other objects were also discovered in it (Interview with H. Adam-87 year old, Lalobi 76 year old in 20 January 2022). Grave goods were also found in burial plots in Tudaone tobu village, Sanua Wuta, such as oliro (Tamalaki whetstone), small porcelain buli-buli with the height of 25 cm. Wula salaka, ta'awu, knife, two watu ike, a tool to make kinawo made of tree bark were also found.
This grave is strongly suspected to contain man body if it is seen from the grave goods showing men's equipment.
In addition to the grave goods found in the tomb and above the tomb. Based on survey results on several tombs, many ceramic or porcelain fragments, pottery, beads and so on were found near to the tombstone. Besides, there was also an issue in the Tawe Kokoti's grave located in Buke Village in 1984 where demolition of tombs was done by seekers and hunters of valuable antiques. Objects stolen were in the form of ceramic porcelain, as well as ta'awu weapons and shields in the form of kinia. (Anonim 2010).
After Islam had been introduced in the Mekongga kingdom in the 17th century during the reign of Bokeo Laduma with title of Sangia Nibandera, and in Konawe in the 18th century during the reign of King or Mokole Lakidende with the title of Sangia Ngginoburu, the burial system was affected by Islam in which caves or kumapo was no longer used as a place to keep corpses. In addition, the boat-shaped grave coffins called soronga was also abandoned (Melamba 2013b, 256-257). And then they were familiar with the Islamic burial system, in which the corpse is buried in a hole. Burial system used grave mound. Shapes of the grave mound varied, there were round, elongated and some are rectangular grave mound. It can be seen in Figure 6 the shape of the King Lakidende's tomb. A tombstone is an inscription or marker, usually a stone that is placed over a tomb. Tombstones are a tradition in funeral ceremonies in Christianity, Judaism, Muslims and some other religions or beliefs. Tombstones usually have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed above, sometimes along with a personal message, epitaph, or prayer. Some tombstones may also contain pieces of funerary art, especially details in stone reliefs and even certain photographs or sculptures. In the Islamic burial system, the direction of burial is always straight facing north and south. In addition to the direction, the shape of the Islamic graves is in the form of a straight plane, while the Christian graves have the shape of a cross or are combined with other shapes. The shape of tombstone is called tandai. Based on our research on Tolaki tombstone, there are foursquare tombstone and even resembling male genital. There is also a headstone without a shape but resembling the original shape. Near the Bokeo Robe tomb in East Kolaka, Lambandia Village, we found a tombstone in the form of a Tolaki army tamalaki grindstone called an oliro made of natural stone. There is also a tombstone made of wood in the shape of a genital.
Tombstone of Tolaki grave resembles human genital. However, there is also a grave mound of Ambemali (Tusawuta official, Minister of Agriculture in Konawe Kingdom) with height of 2 meter and diameter of 6 meter. Tombstone in the form of a monolith that resembles a phallus was also discovered with a length of 60 cm, width of 20 cm, height of 70 cm (Makassar Archaelogical Center 2012). The presence of human ornamentation, which is human genital in the tombstone shows that this is the continuation of pre-Islamic era tradition (megalithic). In prehistoric times, the depiction of human ornaments could be interpreted as a ward against evil disturbances, images of ancestors and at the same time possessing the supernatural powers of those described (Suleiman 1995, 4). The appearance of megalithic decorations on tombs, especially megalithic ornaments, is mainly in the form of geometric decorative patterns, human patterns and animal patterns. Indeed, there is an assumption that the existence of similarities or transitions from pre-Islamic art to Islamic art does not mean that there is a symbolic continuity. Even the takeover of pre-Islamic decorative motifs to Islamic decorative can shift the meaning it contains (Suleiman 1995, 4). In addition, there are tombstone models using mountain stones and river stones. The materials for making tombstone on the Tolaki people's tombs vary. The Tombstone uses living plants in the form of wooden trees / puu gasu, such asbanyan (okapu), mango (taipa), banyan (okapu), coconut (kaluku) and there are even tombs that do not have tombstone to hide the identity of the tomb or the whereabouts of the person being buried. Only a few people know the person who has been entrusted with the mandate. The number of tomb stone follows the provisions, men shall have 1 tombstone and women shall have 2 tombstones. However, on the tombstone of the empress Bokeo Mambulo in Wonua Mbuteo Village, Poli-polia Subdistrict, there are four tombstones; two mountain stones and two slabs made of river stone that look alive.
There is one thing that is very special, specifically the shape of the tomb, four pillars in the form of stone or wood are located and embedded in each corner of the tomb, the placing of which is called Tombakuku. The position of the tombstone is exactly in the middle of the pillars. In the tomb of King Mokole Lakidende with the title of Sangia Ngginoburu meaning the first king buried, there are four stone pillars in each corner of the tomb. The model with pillars at the four corners of the tomb has uniqueness in terms of the grave model (Figure 7, 8, 9).    The Tolaki burial plot is found near to former settlement, river or alaa, also on a mountainous hill, near a defense fort and is at an altitude and some are even found on a mountain. The tombs of the upper class, either a king or a mokole or Bokeo, royal officials, anakia or nobles, or a prominent person who has influence are distinguished by aspect of the height of the tomb, the position of the tomb between the tombs around it, the type of headstone, the shape of the tomb, the shape of jirat, the position of the tomb placed in front facing to north when compared to the tombs around it. Tolaki people know two methods to make additional hole in the grave (Konggoasa 1982).
First, an additional hole is made in the west side of the excavation called ngeo-ngeo or ninggeo-nggeo, commonly known as the grave to rest the deceased in position facing the Qibla. Second, an additional hole is made in the middle of excavation with enlongated model "tinandapa". According to several informants, tinandapa is only intended for noble anakia, leaders, or prominent figures or groups. When I was a child, I attended my relative's funeral in 1988 where a long and narrow hole is made in the middle the excavation, called as tinandapa. In tinandapa, a wide board or pobaloki is placed above the corpse to cover it (Tarimana 1993). Meanwhile, in ninggeo-nggeo model, a wide board is placed sideway because the additional hole is on the side of the excavation.
Today, tinandapa is rarely adopted because first, many people are not already familiar with it and second, most of people believe that ninggeo-nggeo is Islamic law or Islamic tradition. Third, gravediggers tend to follow the descend family or pay attention to the condition of the excavated soil. Nowadays, if the soil is sandy, or the soil is unstable then it is prone to landslides, especially in rainy weather conditions, so grave coffin is used "bandala mateaha". There is no gender exception to adopt ninggeo-nggeo or tinandapa model.
Stepped tombs, such as the tomb of King Lakidende, the tomb of Tawe Puosu Kalenggo, are in the form of stones arranged in steps that resemble a trasering. Usually, the number of steps is 3 or 5 and 2 or 4 stacks. The tomb is rectangular, elongated beam, or circular. In Asinua Jaya, there is a stepped tomb named tiu-tiu, according to the narrative, Tiu-tiu's tomb is the ancestor of the Asinua people. In addition, stepped tombs are found in the tomb of the wife of king Lakidende located in Arombu Village, namely the tomb of Mowina and the tomb of Kalenggo. Besides the shape of the tondo watu tomb or stone fort that is arranged in tombs can be discovered in watukila, Lakarama. The stone fence is called koburu watu. In Konawe and in Mekongga, many graves use stone to arrange the edges of the tomb functioned as grave curb.
In general, ancient tombs can be found in the remains of ancient settlements before the arrival of the Dutch East Indies government. One of the impacts was that residents were advised to make their settlements facing the road, resulting in the abandonment of previous settlements. Usually, the Tolaki people rest their deceased of their relatives near to their settlements, but now Tolaki people is realized that they need to bury their relatives in public cemeteries. However, in general, villages in the Tolaki community still prefer to have their relatives buried behind their houses or family burial plot. This shows how close and high the sense of family or kinship of the Tolaki people is and the affection for their relatives.
In the past, before there was digging equipment technology, such as a shovel, gravediggers (to'ono monggalihi koburu) used a digging tool made of hard wood called osua. Tolaki people have an expression for couples entering a marriage, which is "osua mosinggalakomiu" meaning that only death can separate the couple.
Osua as a tool for digging graves cannot reach maximal depth, so to make a grave, the gravedigger digs the ground around the area and then the soil is accommodated piled up at the grave points so that it becomes mountainous. Several survey teams found mountainous tombs, where excavated soil can be found around the area. This osua is made of hard wood, usually iron wood (bayam) resembling a pointed tool for digging the ground Conclusions At first, Tolaki people adopted a secondary burial pattern by using soronga or oduni in the form of a boat-shaped coffin grave, the corpse is put in a coffin and then tightly closed. Soronga has a tirika woa in the form of an urn or porcelain that serves as a place to collect pus. There are two types of soronga, the large soronga is for adults and the small is for children. Soronga are generally kept in caves or kumapo.
In the Tolaki people, there is a term or concept called Koburu Bangga, which means a boat-shaped tomb. This contains cultural element, first, as a soronga, namely a boat-shaped grave coffin. Second, it is also intended to shape tomb to resemble a boat, both the structure and the girder of the tomb. The shape of the tomb is similar to a boat or obangga in the form of an arrangement of stones or wood. This concept illustrates that the tradition of using a boat pattern has continued since ancient prehistoric times. This continues after Islam came, the boat-shaped tombs (koburu proud) as the land of a tomb associated with the pattern of boat-shaped grave coffin, still can be found.
The tradition of the boat-shaped burial pattern continued after the entry of Islam, in which the corpse was put in a hole made in the ground whether by adopting ninggeo-nggeo model, which is the grave following the Islamic tradition or adopting tinandapa, where the hole is made in the middle of the excavation and then above the grave, koburu bangga tomb was built to resemble a boat. The koburu bangga model was only intended for the upper class or traditional elite such as anakia or nobles, royal officials or people who have influence, officials or rulers. If from prehistoric times to ancient times the shape of a boat was made, then during the Islamic period, the tomb resembling a boat was built above the grave. There several types of distribution pattern of the Tolaki people's graves, the first Kombula, where the location of the tombs is concentrated in one location. Second, the pattern of spreading or called as metobu-tobu where within the burial plot, there are parts of tomb that are separated from each other. Third, the circular pattern called as buboto. The fourth pattern is elongated. The fifth pattern illustrates the shape of the Tolaki people's graves, namely a circular pattern (buboto), a rectangular pattern (koburu konahuu), and a rectangular pattern (koburu mendaa). On the rim of the tomb there are 2, 3, 4 to 5 terrace steps. The tombs are arranged with andesite stones resembling a boat, there is also an arrangement of rectangular and elongated stones. In addition, there are mound-shaped tombs in the form of circles, rectangles and elongated.
The special feature of Tolaki burials is that at the top of the tomb there are first, tambokuku in the form of pillars of stone (owatu) or wood (okasu) which are placed in each corner of the tomb, totaling four patonggopa. Second, pehu nggoburu is a wide stone placed as the top of a tomb plot. Pehu nggoburu is placed in the east or ilosoano oleo. Pehu nggoburu is served as a mark of their family or clan burial plot boundaries. Tombstones as an Islamic tradition function as markers or tandai of tombs made of stone, both andesite and black mountain stones resembling human genital (ambemali and lamangi tombs), carved iron wood or kasu lawu, there is also a tombstone in the form of a small rectangular oliro whetstone (tamalaki stone).