Archaeological investigations at Trader's Cave, Niah National Park: Report on the First (2017) Field Season

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
VOL LXXXIV NO.105 DECEMBER 2021

Title :
Archaeological investigations at Trader's Cave, Niah National Park: Report on the First (2017) Field Season

Author :
Darren Curnoe, Ipoi Datan, Mohammed Sherman Sauffi William, Goh Hsiao Mei, Michael Slack, Roshan Peiris and Xue-feng Sun

Abstract:

over 60 years the Niah Caves in Sarawak has been an iconic archaeological locality in insular Southeast Asia (iSEA) (Fig. 1). Moreover, until recently, the so-called 'Deep Skull' found in 1958 during excavations in the West Mouth led by Tom and Barbara Harrisson provided the earliest physical evidence for Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) in the region (Brothwell 1960; Harrisson, 1967; Kennedy 1977). The most recent dating estimates for the Deep Skull from direct uranium series analysis of two skull fragments place it at 35.2+2.6 ka (error weighted average) (Pike 2016), and through Bayesian modeling combining AMS 1C of charcoal and direct U-series dating of human bone to c39-30 ka (at 94.5 per cent probability) (Higham et al. 2016). However, the recent re-dating of AMH at Lida Ajder in Sumatra within the range 73,000-63,000 years ago (Westaway et al. 2017) means, of course, that the distinction of 'earliest no longer rests with the Deep Skull. Still, the historical importance of the West Mouth shouldn't be underestimated as much of our current understanding about late Pleistocene-late Holocene prehistory in the region centres on the discoveries made by the Harrisson's in the Niah Great Cave Complex (NGCC).

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61507/smj22-2017-VK14-05

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How to cite:
Darren Curnoe (2017). A Glimpse of Civilian Life in Sarawak Under the Empire of the Sun. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXXXIV (105): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.61507/smj22-2017-VK14-05

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