This paper explores the multiple ways that local records of the past are inscribed in the landscape through a variety of megalithic structures and stone objects. As archives of past habitation and sociality, stone is the most enduring structural form in the dynamic tropical environments of Timor-Leste. Largely for that reason, it has long been utilised as a building material of choice in the construction of defensive fortifications. But over time these structures also accrete layers of site-specific meanings and significance as repositories of past events. They may form material traces of mythic group identity, be viewed as places of religious veneration, as boundary markers of political jurisdictions, and as structures of memorialisation for familial ancestors. In these and other ways, megalithic structures—large and small—constitute spatial and material archives of the past and serve as reference points for local assertions of claim, narrative histories and spiritual protections in the present. The paper draws on examples from Fataluku culture in Timor Leste to illustrate the rich possibilities of the emplaced past and its cultural trajectories.

本文探讨了通过各种巨石结构和石制品将过去的本地记录刻在景观中的多种方式。作为过去的居住和社会档案，石头是东帝汶动态热带环境中最持久的结构形式。很大程度上由于这个原因，长期以来它一直被用作防御工事的建筑材料。但是随着时间的流逝，这些结构还会增加特定于站点的意义和重要性，作为过去事件的存储库。它们可能构成神话团体身份的物质痕迹，被视为宗教崇拜的场所，政治管辖区的边界标记以及被视为家族祖先的纪念结构。通过这些和其他方式，大型和小型的巨石结构构成了过去的空间和物质档案，并作为当地主张权利，叙述历史和精神保护的参考点。本文以东帝汶的法塔鲁库文化为例，说明了被占领的过去及其文化轨迹的丰富可能性。