Acehnese Tombstones in Southeast Asia: Chronology and a Typology

Abstract

The Acehnese tombstones remain as an area of unexplored subject and due to limitations of previous research, there are still many that have escaped the attention of experts in the past. This paper produces a guide for the analysis of similar studies in the future. It unravels the time of arrival of Islam and the process of Islamization of Indonesia in particular and the history of Islamic culture in general. It employs a survey, documentary research, qualitative data analysis and a scientific analysis in a laboratory as research methods. The paper concludes that the term ‘batu Aceh’ (Aceh stones), which is popular in Malaysia, does not necessarily mean that such tombstones were brought from Aceh. Instead, the technology or the makers themselves were brought from Aceh to build the tombs of Acehnese dignitaries buried in Malaysia. In terms of typology, there are 24 new types of Acehnese tombstones spread throughout Southeast Asia. The use of such tombstones in Islamic burial monuments have started at least around the 11th century AD. This paper produces a new typology with codes that are practically easy to remember and use. They are: AP (Nisan Aceh Pipih or Flat Acehnese Tombstone), AB (Nisan Aceh Blok or Block Acehnese Tombstone), and AS (Nisan Aceh Silindrik or Cylindrical Acehnese Tombstone). Each has 24 variations.