Gua Niah is a place to understand the significance of discovered artifacts and human remains.
About Niah Cave
Niah Cave
Gua Niah (Niah Cave) is the center of human settlement dating as far as 40 000 years ago. The cave is enormous by any measure as the floor of the cave is approximately 3,139 hectares and in places, the cave roof rises a majestic 75 meters above the rubble-strewn floor. There are five openings in the cave and the main cave are called a painted cave because of the red hematite wall and ceiling painting. The painted cave was suitable for human dwelling because it is dry and well-lit. The other parts of the cave were dark, moist, and inhabited by bats and swiftlets.
The cave is located about 65 km from Miri, Sarawak, and is described as the first location of human civilization in Borneo.
How has it been found?
In 1855, Alfred Russel Wallace discovered Niah Caves during his expedition in Borneo. Unfortunately, the excavation by the British archaeologist was unsuccessful. Then, Barbara and Tom Harrison successfully continued the previous excavation with significant discoveries from 1954 until 1967. This discovery uncovered considerable evidence of past human habitations. The cave is used intermittently use by mobile foragers during the Holocene age and is a major repository of the dead dated around 4000 years ago. After realizing that Niah Cave is an archaeological and cultural significance to the area, Niah Cave was declared a historical monument in 1974.
As Barbara and Tom Harrison excavated the cave, 750,000 fragments were found which make the cave as one of the largest late Pleistocene and early Holocene assemblage of archaeological assemblage in southeast Asia. One of the top discoveries at Niah Caves is called ‘the deep skull’ in 1958 that is found at the deepest part of the cave so-called ‘Hell Trench’ due to its hot weather condition during the excavation. Together with the skull, they found a charcoal sample that dates back to 35000 and 40000 bp, which indicates at the oldest authenticated modern human remains outside Africa. Other than that, 25 human burials were found in Niah cave dating to the early Holocene, and 200 burials with a Neolithic material culture which shows that Niah cave is the largest Mesolithic and Neolithic cemeteries in Southeast Asia. Barbara Harrison discovered paintings on the wall using hematite and dye material from plants and depict anthropomorphism that appears to be a boat or ship. In 2000 and 2003, under the leadership of Prof. Graeme Barker from the University of Cambridge, Niah Cave was initiated to re-investigate the remnant archaeology with the help of an international team of archaeologists and environmental scientists. The result of the re-investigation confirmed that new 14C dates anchored the stratigraphy to an absolute chronology and demonstrated that intermittent human habitation of the caves could be traced back 45000 bp. In addition, the project could also be able to unravel the late Pleistocene and early Holocene habitation of the cave entrance and Neolithic and Metal age burial activity. In 2017, another international team led by Prof. Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales, Australia discovered a new timeline based on their discoveries of five pieces of microlithic tools aged 65000 years ago and a human skull aged 55000 years.
Why Niah Cave is important to archelogist?
.jpg "Painted-Cave Paintings and the dead ships")
Painted-Cave Paintings and the dead ships.
Source:
The discoveries from Niah Caves by archaeologists help us to understand human activities during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The discoveries of human burials at Niah Cave indicate that it is the largest cemetery in Southeast Asia. The excavation at Niah Cave also helps us to tell the routes as well as the interaction of prehistoric people with the environment and surrounding that help them to form cultural traditions. Not only that, the discoveries of the transition from foraging to farming society at Niah cave can be evidence of agricultural origins. The foraging to farming transition revealed that complex human and rainforest interactions are developed. Furthermore, the origin of the ethnic group living around the Niah Cave can be traced based on the evidence discovered that shows the human and rainforest interaction. All in all, the discoveries in Niah Cave helps us understand the origin of how human in the Pleistocene and Holocene interacted with the environment which helps them create their cultural traditions in relationship with the surroundings.
Look at how beautiful Niah Cave is!!!
Proceeding into the cave, the sound of disembodied voices mingles with the squeaking of millions of bats and swiftlets to create an eerie atmosphere. - SarawakForestry
Proceeding into the cave, the sound of disembodied voices mingles with the squeaking of millions of bats and swiftlets to create an eerie atmosphere. - SarawakForestry
In a nutshell, the Niah Cave is an important archaeological site because it contains many artifacts of pre-historic humans. It is a historical monument in Sarawak because it is recognized as an archaeological and cultural site of the area. The discoveries from Niah cave give us an insight into the Pleistocene and Holocene age of the way they correspond to the environment. Archaeologies discoveries gave us an insight into the origin of human and the way culture and tradition is created.
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ReplyDeletea good read indeed
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