Readers in Singapore may be interested in this talk by Dr. E. Edwards McKinnon at ISEAS.

The Tombstones of Lamreh (Ancient Lamri): Their relevance to the arrival of Islam according to the Sejarah Melayu
Venue: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Singapore
Date: 4 March 2015

The Lamreh headland adjacent to the Krueng Raya bay in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh province of Indonesia, known locally as Ujong Batee Kapai or the Ship-rock headland is one of the most important early Islamic settlement sites in northern Sumatra. The headland, some 300 ha in extent and the site of an ancient harbour has recently proved to have been devastated by one, if not two, pre-modern tsunamis and is a mediaeval settlement marked by numerous Islamic grave markers. The Lamreh site may be related to the Lan-li or Lan-wu-li of mediaeval Chinese texts, and in all probability the Chola ‘Ilamuridesam’ of the 11th century Tanjore inscription.

Attention to a sadly neglected burial ground at Lubhok was initiated by an Indonesian archaeological research team in 1996. The author was fortunate in being able to visit the headland site shortly after the Indonesian visit and discover an extensive cultural landscape which at that time was still largely intact. Two distinct types of grave marker, a small, plain proto-batu Aceh and a distinct so-called plang pleng tradition are to be found there. These grave markers and similar stones at three other contemporary coastal sites, Aru, Perlak and Samudera Pase, are seemingly of some importance in considering the legend of the arrival of Islam in the Sejarah Melayu and may help in understanding the arrival of Islam in the Aceh region.

The occurrence of the plang pleng tombstones that are found only in a very limited geographical area, may reflect the presence of a South Asian trading organization that had links to Sri Lanka, to Ayudhaya and to Quanzhou in south China in the 14th and 15th centuries. The plang pleng burial tradition seemingly disappears with the rise of the new sultanate in the late 15th or early 16th centuries.

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