Sirope’ is located in Makale Utara (North Makale), about one kilometre from the main road. This limestone cliff burial site houses erong (coffins) and some Tau Tau statues. This grave belongs to a high-class family in the region of Lion and Tondok Iring. There is a trail up to the top of the grave that offers a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape.
The history of this site goes back to the creation of the village Lion Tondok Iring. As the legend goes, this area was first visited by Puang Batan di Lomben, followed by the arrival of Puang Tarangenge who built a Tongkonan at the top of the mountain Kambio Langi’. The people in this region used to bury deceased family members in the ground until realising that this affected plants and animals in the surrounding vicinity. When searching for a reason for why the land was negatively affecting plants and animals around these cemeteries were dying, people came to the conclusion that the earth was angry and therefore the deceased could no longer be buried in the ground. As a result, these villagers spread out in search of caves and cliffs to inter the deceased. They met again in Sirope’, which got its name from this meeting which in Basa Toraja is “sirompa’” or the meeting of several villages. From this point forward, these villagers began to place family members in cave and cliff graves such as Sirope
