| Niah Caves | |
|---|---|
 The main entrance to the Niah Caves at sunset | |
  Location in Malaysia Show map of Borneo Niah Caves (Malaysia) Show map of Malaysia | |
| Coordinates | 3°48′50″N113°46′53″E / 3.81389°N 113.78139°E /3.81389; 113.78139 |
| Discovery | 1950 |
| Entrances | 1 |
| Official name | The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park's Caves Complex |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, v |
| Designated | 2024(46thsession) |
| Reference no. | 1014 |
| Region | Asia-Pacific |
Niah National Park, located withinMiri Division,Sarawak,Malaysia, is the site of theNiah Caves which are an archeological site.
Alfred Russel Wallace lived for 8 months atSimunjan District with a mining engineer, Robert Coulson, who had explored what is now northernSarawak for mineral ores.[1] Coulson later wrote to Wallace about finding bones in a number of caves in Sarawak. On further enquiry, Wallace learned that one cave in question "was situated in the district between Sarawak and Bruni (Brunei), on a mountain some distance inland."[2] In March 1864, Wallace favoured Coulson to explore the caves. However, later in May 1864, G. J. Ricketts, a British Consul to Sarawak was appointed to undertake the work. Ricketts did not remain in the post for long and subsequentlyAlfred Hart Everett was chosen to undertake the work. Everett surveyed 32 caves in three areas, including Niah/Subis (nearMiri) and "Upper Sarawak Proper"[1] (upriver of theSarawak River atBau).[3]
In the 1950s,Tom Harrisson, the curator ofSarawak State Museum was searching for evidence of ancient human activity in Sarawak. He came across Niah Cave, which showed no evidence of ancient human activity in the area. However, he inferred that since the cave was cool and dry and there were millions of bats and swiflets which could be used as food, ancient humans could have lived in the cave. Therefore, in October 1954, Harrisson with his two friends, Michael Tweedie and Hugh Gibb spent two weeks examining the Niah. They found evidence of long term human occupation, habitation, and burial. In 1957, the Sarawak museum organised a larger expedition with transport and equipment from Brunei Shell Petroleum and Sarawak Oilfields Ltd (Shell).[4] Earthernware, shell scrapers, shell ornaments, stone pounders, bone tools, and food remains were found.[4]Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal layers put the site at 40,000 years old, dating back to thePaleolithic era.[4] The expedition team led byBarbara Harrisson discovered the "Deep Skull" in the "Hell Trench" (named for its unusually hot condition) at 101 to 110 inches below surface[5] in February 1958.[6] It is a partial skull withmaxilla, two molar teeth and a portion of the base of the skull. The skull is highly fragile and is not fossilised. The morphology of the skull suggests it belonged to a female in her late teens to mid-twenties. Near the skull, a complete left femur and right proximal tibia were found which belonged to the same individual.[6][7] Tom Harrisson also discovered Neolithic burial sites from 2,500 to 5,000 years ago. The discoveries led to more expeditions in 1959, 1965, and 1972.[6]
The area was gazetted as "National Historic Monument" in 1958. On 23 November 1974, the area was gazetted as a national park. The national park was opened to the public on 1 January 1975.[8]
In 1960, Don Brothwell concluded that the Deep Skull belonged to an adolescent male who may be closely related to an indigenous Australian fromTasmania.[5] In the 1960s, 122 human remains from Niah were brought toNevada, United States.[9] There is a lack ofpaleogeography,stratigraphy, and archeological relationships to support Tom Harrisson's work.[6] Therefore, more fieldwork was conducted byUniversity of Leicester, in collaboration with other universities from Britain, Australia, United States andSarawak State Museum from 2000 to 2003[10] to establish a more detailed history of the Niah Caves.[6] It was known as the "Niah Cave Project".[10] Another dating of the charcoal and the Deep Skull itself was done in 2000.[5] It showed the age of the skeleton to be 37,000 years old.[5] In 2006, studies from the Niah Cave Project found out that the ancient humans living in the Niah Caves probably used mammal and fish trapping technologies, projectile technology,tuber digging, plant detoxification, and forest burning.[6] In 2013 to 2014,uranium–thorium dating also confirmed the age of the skull.[11] In 2016, further research done byDarren Curnoe noted that the Deep Skull was more resembling of a female adolescent and is more closely resembling the indigenous people of Borneo rather than Tasmanians or thetwo layer hypothesis which stated that original population ofSoutheast Asia were emigrated from Australia and later integrated with people from China.[5][11]
In 2010 and 2021, the Sarawak state government nominated the park for aUNESCO'sWorld Heritage Site title.[12][13][14] In 2020, all 122 pieces of Niah human remains were returned to Sarawak.[15] Niah National Park was included in the UNESCO's World Heritage Site list on 27 July 2024.[16]
The Niah Caves is located on the northern edge of a limestone mountain namedGunung Subis (Mount Subis). The entrance is located at the west mouth of the cave. The location is 15 km from theSouth China Sea and 50 m above sea level. The west mouth of the Niah Caves is 150 m wide and 75 m high.[6]
The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains from 40,000 years ago have been found.[17] This is the oldest recorded human settlement inEast Malaysia. More recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from ca. 46,000 to 34,000 years ago.[18] Painted Cave, situated in a much smaller limestone block of its own, some 150 metres from the Great Cave block's south eastern tip, has rock paintings dated as 1,200 years old. Archeologists have claimed a much earlier date for stone tools found in the Mansuli valley, nearLahad Datu inSabah, but a precise dating analysis has yet to be published.[19]
Items found at the Niah Cave include Pleistocene chopping tools and flakes, Neolithic axes, adzes, pottery, shell jewellery, boats, mats, then iron tools, ceramics and glass beads dating to theIron Age. The most famous find is the human skull dated at around 38,000 years BCE.[20][17] Painted Cave has paintings and wooden coffin 'death ships'.
Between 1954 and 1966, approximately 750,000 fragments of animal bones were excavated here. One of them was identified as ametacarpal bone of a youngtiger.[21]
Pearce (2004) recognises six vegetation types:[22]
The caves are also well known for thebird's nest industry. They are a popular tourist destination in Sarawak. Every section of the ceiling in the caves where there areswiftlets roosting is privately owned and only the owner has the right to collect the nests. Collection is done twice a year (usually in January and in June). The collector climbs up hundreds of feet on a single pole to the cave ceiling and scrapes off the nest in flickering candlelight.[citation needed]
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