Niah Caves

Information about Niah Caves

Enlarge picture
Niah Caves
Niah Caves is located within the district of Miri in Sarawak, Malaysia. Part of Niah National Park, the main cave, Niah Great Cave, is located in Gunung Subis and is made up of several voluminous, high-ceilinged chambers. It is not an extensive cave system compared to others in Sarawak. The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains dating to 40,000 years have been found. This is the oldest recorded human settlement in East Malaysia. Painted Cave has rock paintings dated as 1,200 years old. The caves are also well known for the birds' nest (Swiftlet) industry. It is a popular tourist destination in Sarawak.

Research was pioneered by Tom Harrisson in the 1950/60's. Since then local universities and foreign scientists have continued the archaeological research, and many articles have been published in the Sarawak Museum Journal. The site has been re-excavated (1999-2003+) by a joint British-Malaysian expedition to determine the accuracy of Harrisson's work.

Items found at Niah Cave include Pleistocene chopping tools and flakes, Neolithic axes, adzes, pottery, shell jewellery, boats, mats, then iron tools and ceramics and glass beads dating to the Iron Age. The most famous find is the human skull dated at around 38,000 years. Painted Cave has paintings and wooden coffin 'death ships'.

Niah National Park was 3,140 hectares when it was gazetted in 1974.

References

  • Harrison, Tom (November 1957) "The Great Cave of Niah: A Preliminary Report on Bornean Prehistory" Man 57: pp. 161-166

See also

External links

Miri
Yu Lan Plaza

Seal
Location in Malaysia
Coordinates:
Country Malaysia
State Sarawak
Establishment Local Authority
(Granted city status in 2005)

..... Click the link for more information.
States and Territories of Malaysia
Sarawak
سراو?


Flag'' Coat of arms''

State motto: Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti

State anthem:
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu"
"Unity Is Strength" 1
Anthem
Negaraku
..... Click the link for more information.
Bird's nest soup is a delicacy[1] in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup.
..... Click the link for more information.
Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodidae.
..... Click the link for more information.
Not to be confused with Tom Harrison.
Tom Harrisson (1911-1976) was a British polymath (although often described as an anthropologist his degree studies at Cambridge were in ecology before he left to live in Oxford).
..... Click the link for more information.
The Sarawak Museum is the oldest museum in Borneo. It was established in 1888 and opened in 1891 in a purpose-built building in Kuching, Sarawak. Sponsored by Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah of Sarawak, the establishment of the museum was strongly encouraged by Alfred Russel
..... Click the link for more information.
Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in some past societies often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs
..... Click the link for more information.
Prehistoric Malaysia may be traced back as far as 200,000 years ago from stone tools found at Kota Tampan, an archaeological site in Lenggong Perak. The earliest human skeleton, Perak Man, dating back 11,000 years and Perak Woman aged 8,000 years, were also discovered in Lenggong.
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.