Page 75 - BAB I-V ADATMINANG

wave of migration occurred in about 500 years BC, this era is

called the Young Stone Age and the tribe is called Deutro
Melayu.

Young stone age culture whose remains are in the form

of menhirs or megaliths, in the form of large stones standing
upright as a sign of devotion to ancestral spirits. In the Luhak

area of 50 cities, megaliths were found arranged in an upright
position and pointing to the Southeast. This natural fact gives

the sense that the arrangement is a worship of spirits or some
kind of supernatural power. But what attracts attention is the

displacement made by the ancestors of this nation, which has

similarities to the mythical Minangkabau traditional tambo
story.

Between the 1st century to the 7th century AD, not much
is known about the history of Minangkabau, this period is

called the dark period because there is no evidence of written
heritage. But in the 7th century Islam grew as a ruler in the

Western hemisphere (Umayyad dynasty) and as a competitor

was China in the Eastern hemisphere. The intense trade
competition between the two superpowers above had a positive

impact on Minangkabau as a pepper producer which at that

time was East Minangkabau, (now included in Jambi province)
which was estimated to be centered in Muara Tan Besi. As a