International Journal of Religion 2024 Volume: 5| Number 11 | pp. 2305 – 2315 ISSN: 2633-352X (Print) | ISSN: 2633-3538 (Online) ijor.co.uk DOI: https://doi.org/10.61707/jdpb1p89 Study Of the Cultural Elements of Muna Ethnic Based on Oral Tradition and Archeology Sources as Cultural Heritage Rahmat Sewa Suraya 1 , Salniwati 2 , Nurtikawati 3 , Marhini 4 , Shinta Arjunita Saputri 5 and Colleta Palupi Titasari 6 Abstract The tale of the dragon and his friends is one of Indonesia’s intangible cultural heritages found among the Muna Ethnic group. This study is important to the maintenance the cultural heritage. Research aims to describe and examine the cultural elements contained in the dragon and friends tales which are reinforced by the archaeological findings found in the Muna Ethnicity in Muna Regency. The research method used was qualitative with data collection techniques recordings (voice) and interviews. Then, the data analysis was carried out by content analysis of the data transcription results which were previously translated from Muna Language into the Indonesian Language. The next step was to compare and analyze data from The next step is to compare and analyze those witch archaeological data found in Muna Regency. The final step was concluding. The result of this research shows that the cultural elements contained in the oral tradition sources of dragon and friends tales as well as in Archaeological remains were language, technological system, social organization system, art, religious systems, social organization system, knowledge system, and livelihood systems. Apart from the cultural elements, one of the embodied messages especially found in Dragon and Friend’s tales is the use of logical thinking. In this case, humans must use their logical thinking to solve every problem in life, as exemplified by the character of o mie (a human being) who thought logically and calmly to eradicate the Jinn. Keywords: Oral Traditions, Fairy Tales, Archaeological Remains, Cultural Elements, Cultural Heritage. INTRODUCTION Pendahuluan Culture is the identity of a nation that distinguishes it from other nations in the world. Cultural development experiences dynamics along with the times. There is a culture that is still preserved today. There is also a culture that is already rare and even cut off from its inheritance to the younger generation. Many factors affect the existence of a culture. In culture, some elements form as stated by Koendjaraningrat(Koentjaraningrat, 1990). The elements in question are language, technological systems, art, religious systems, social organizations, livelihood systems, and knowledge systems. These cultural elements can be found in both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Indonesia is a country that is very rich in culture. In Indonesia, there are many ethnic groups, diverse, languages, arts, social organizations of the community, traditional learning systems, oral literature, and so on. Oral literature such as folklore, for example, turns out to contain educational values that are very beneficial for both humans themselves and the public(Syafira&Chanafiah, 2020) . One of the ethnicities in Indonesia that has many cultural treasures is the Muna Ethnicity. The Muna ethnic group turns out to have many cultural heritages, both tangible (material) and intangible cultural heritage (intangible cultural heritage) that can be used for human life. Examples of material cultural heritage are the various unique rock image motifs found at the Liang Kobori Cave site(Rasyidu et al., 2021) and Fort Site Wa Sidakari in Muna Regency (Rida, Rida, Syahrun, Syahrun, Salniwati, 2021). 1 Departement Oral Tradition Faculty of Humanities Halu Oleo University, Email: mhat_suraya@yahoo.co.id (Corresponding Author) 2 Department Archeology of Halu Oleo University 3 Departement Oral Tradition Faculty of Humanities Halu Oleo University 4 Departement Oral Tradition Faculty of Humanities Halu Oleo University 5 Departement Oral Tradition Faculty of Humanities Halu Oleo University 6 Department Archeolgy of Udyanaya University