Niah Cave, Miri Sarawak

Niah Cave is a limestone cave and archeological site known as The Great Cave, significant with the evidence of prehistoric man’s existence, about 40,000 – 45,000 years in Southeast Asia which located in Sarawak,Malaysia . Niah Great Cave also renowned with painted cave (Gua Kain Hitam) left by the ancients because of red hematite and ceiling paintings. Its mouth is about 300 feet ( 90 m) high by 600 feet (180 m ) wide.

In 1958 ,the first archaeological excavation by Tom Harrisson and his wife , Barbara Harrisson discovered the evidence of past human habitations. Shell scrapers, shell ornaments, potteries, stone pounders, bone tools, and food remains were found. The vital discovery at Niah Cave was the remains of the skull “Deep Skull” found in “Hell Trench” of the West Mouth of Niah Cave after the cave was described by Alfred Russel Wallace to Westerners in 1864. Soon after, radiocarbon dating on charcoal gave it an age of around 40,000 years old.

In 2000’s Graham Barker from Cambridge University studied and reanalysed the site and its age, through a combination radiocarbon dating of charcoal and the Deep Skull, showed the skeleton to be 37,000 years old.

In 1960, Don Brothwell of Cambridge University concluded it is belonged to an adolescent male who may closely related to an indigenous Australian from Tasmania. In 2016, another research done by Darren Curnoe noted that the Deep Skull was more resembling of a middle-aged woman and is more closely resembling the indigenous people of Borneo rather than Tasmanians or the two layer hypothesis which stated that original population of Southeast Asia were emigrated from Australia and later replaced by farmers from southern China.

In the northern entrance of two-entrance tunnel cave called Painted Cave,(Gua Kain Hitam) 4 meter inside the drip line, on a floor of dry silty sediment. Cave painting found on the walls and ceiling of the cave are often subjected to large game animals such as bison, goat and horse. Not only that, small animals such as birds, fish and so on are also a subject to their painting. Cave painting actually function as a medium for their communication as the primitive community prehistoric.The painting also shown based on their experience decency on the surrounding, such as hunting and collected food. Most of the painted found were all about their social life, economy, technology used to hunt and fishing. In addition, it involves with their belief system such ritual for burial, belief on supernatural, mystic and eternal life. This prehistoric painting was shown ship and anthropomorphic image of human dance with open are where it was painted in hematite. It was believe related for the belief to afterlife and funeral. Result from the excavation found the death ship was coffin for them keep the corpse.

Radiocarbon dating on the ship was 1,200 years and they also found other tools for the funeral such personal jewellery from snail, beads and Chinese ceramics also shown they done ritual (Tamura, 2008). While from the article “Graphic Image Restoration of Cave Painting in Painted Cave, Niah, Sarawak” the writer explained “most death ship image contains a series of very fashionable figures, some with extra stylish anthropomorphism with open arms positions. Individual anthropomorphism outside the image of a death ship are usually in an active state, although we hesitate to consider such a posture to dance” (Harrison 1958: 202). Familiar animals include crocodiles, snails, turtles, four-legged mammals, and figures with birds and human characteristics. Some image even shows some figure wearing headwear or clothing.’(Sahibil and Jusilin, p.53,2019)