One of the fascinating aspects of the traditional architecture of Indonesia is the hidden order resulting from orienting certain elements – posts, beams, skirting planks, and the like – by following certain rules that take account of the direction in which the wood has grown in the living tree. Although long known from occasional mentions in the relevant literature, it is only since the 1970s that anthropologists have become aware that the custom deserves more attention. More and more researchers began to include timber orientation among the topics covered in their fieldwork; as a result, an increasing number of published works now include a few lines, or even a few pages, on the subject.