Islamization and the formation of a vernacular tradition: Muslim funerary monuments in 15th-century northern Sumatra

This paper presents an overview of a distinctive and previously un-studied tradition of Muslim funerary monuments from 15th-century northern Sumatra, including a description of its formal characteristics as well as discussion of its geographical distribution, periodization, and relation to other traditions of Muslim grave markers around the broader region. These stones present evidence for the emergence of a distinctive type of vernacular Muslim material culture dating to the earliest historical phase of Islamisation in Southeast Asia.