Lobang Kudih: The excavation of a Ming Period burial cave, near Beluru,Miri Division, within the Baram basin

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
Vol. LXI No. 82 DECEMBER 2005

Title :
Lobang Kudih: The Excavation of a Ming Period Burial Cave, near Beluru, within the Baram basin.

Author :
Charmian C. Woodfield

Abstract:

This report covers the total excavation of a ‘burial’ cave near Beluru, in the Miri Division of Sarawak [Figs. 1 and 2]. It was excavated as it was threatened by quarrying activities, and the breakdown of adat due to a change of population, which had hitherto preserved it from damage. The cave is high above a river, in a limestone outcrop [Figs. 3, 4 and Plate IX]. It contained the remains of some 170-180 persons of mixed sex and age, accompanied by grave goods in the form of personal effects and pottery, together with evidence of ceremonies in the form of dog and pig mandibles [Figs. 5-24, and Plates XI-XIII]. The date of deposition has not been scientifically established, and is based on the notoriously difficult to date imported south Chinese and Thai ceramics, but its estimated date is within the early Ming period, 1300-1500, with slight evidence of added offerings to c. 1600. The people are locally claimed to be the ancestors of the settled Punan Bah still living in the area, since c. 1910 as Muslims. However, certain features are characteristic of other peoples, such as the Kedayans and Kenyahs.

DOI:
XXXX

Download Abstract

How to cite:
Charmian C. Woodfield. (2005). Lobang Kudih: The Excavation of a Ming Period Burial Cave, near Beluru, within the Baram basin. LXI (82): 31-186

References

Anderson, J.E. 1962. The Human Skeleton, A Manual for Archaeologists. N. Mus. Of Canada.
Beamish, H.H. 1954-5. ‘Animals on Ming Trade Porcelain’, Oriental Ceramics Society, Federation Museums Journal, Vols. 1 and 2, NS.
Bellwood, P. 1985/1997. Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago, revised ed. 1997. University of Hawaii Press.
Braddell, Sir Roland. 1947. Journal Malayan Br. R. Asiatic Soc. XX. This and other comments are given in the Sarawak Museum Occasional Paper, No. 2: BEADS, revised ed. 2001.
Brooks, S.T. 1955. ‘Skeletal Age at Death; the Reliability of Cranial and Pubic Age Indicators’. American J. Rhys. Anthropology. Nr. V. 13, No. 4.
Brothwell, D.R. 1963. Digging Up Bones: The Excavation, Treatment and Study of Human Skeletal Remains. Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist.
Brothwell, D.R. 1976. ‘Further evidence of Treponematosis in a Pre-European Population from Oceania’. Notes in Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 50(3): 435-442. Fig. 1 part of a skull from Lobang Kudih, D.1 showing osteitis, Fig. 2 frontal and superior views of skulls from A.3 and Fig. 3 fragments of long bone fragments from A.1 and A.3— Pathology.
Brown, R. and Sjostrand, S. 2003. Maritime Archaeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malaysia. Dept of Museums and Antiqs., Kuala Lumpur.
Chin, L. 1977. ‘Trade Pottery discovered in Sarawak 1948- 1976’. Sarawak Museum Journal XXV, 46: 1-7.
Chin, L. 1988. Ceramics in the Sarawak Museum. Sarawak Museum, Kuching.
Christie, J.W. 1985. ‘On-Po-ni, the Santubong Sites of Sarawak’. Sarawak Museum Journal XXXIV, 55: 77-89.
Clutton-Brock, J. 1959. ‘Niah’s Neolithic Dog’. Sarawak Museum Journal IX, Nos. 13-14: 143-6.
Cooper Cole, F. 1945. The Peoples of Malaya. Map on p. 322 gives the Melanau people on the left bank of the Baram in addition to the lower Rejang.
Cranbrook, Earl of. 1979. ‘A Review of Domestic Pig Remains from Archaeological Sites in Sarawak’. Sarawak Museum Journal XXVII, 48: 79-88.
Cranbrook, Earl of. 2000. ‘Northern Borneo Environments of the past 40,000 years; the archaeological evidence’. Sarawak Museum Journal LV, No. 76: 61-110. (Page 82 provides a contra view to Medway, 1977.)
Facchini, F., Rastelli E. and Brasili P. 2004. ‘Cribra orbitalia and Cribra cranii in Roman Skeletal Remains from the Ravenna Area and Rimini (I- IV century AD).’ International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. March-April.
Flanagan, L. 1988. 'Ireland’s Armada Legacy’. A contemporary parallel is the manifest of the La Trinidad Valencera which took part in the Spanish Armada of 1588 which carried ‘an incredible quantity of resin’.
Francis, R Jnr. 1985. ‘Chinese Beadmakers in Java’. Margaretologist Vol. 1, No. 1 reports a letter written by an English merchant in Java in 1608 describing the Chinese of Bantam making blue barrel shaped beads for the Borneo market. See also Francis P. Jnr. 1991- ‘Glass Beads in Malaya- A Reassessment’. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS) LXIV Pt.1.
Furness, W. 1902. ‘The Home-life of Borneo Head-Hunters, its festivals and folklore’. Philadelphia. 3rd ed. Reprint of 1979, New York.
Haile, N.S. 1961. The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Suai-Baram Area, North Sarawak. 87-88, and Fig. 9. Geology Memoir 10, fig. 64. Sarawak Government Press.
Harrisson, B. 1958. ‘Niah’s Lobang Tulang, Cave of Bones’. Sarawak Museum Journal VIII, 12: 596-619. 1965. ‘Upiusing— a late Burial Cave at Niah’. Sarawak Museum Journal XII, 25-26: 83-116.
Harrisson, B. and T. 1968. ‘Magala, A series of Neolithic and Metal Age burial grottos at Sekaloh, Niah, Sarawak’. JMBRAS 41(2), 148-175.
Harrisson, T. 1958. ‘The ‘Ming Gap’ and Kota Batu’. Sarawak Museum Journal VIII, 11: 273-277.
Harrisson, T. and B. 1956. ‘Kota Batu in Brunei’. Sarawak Museum Journal VII, 8: 283-319.
Hose, C. 1926. Natural Man, A Record from Borneo. Reprint by O.U.R 1988.
Hose, C. and McDougall, W. 1912. The Pagan Tribes of Borneo. Macmillan. London. Vols. 1 and 2.
Ipoi Datan. 1993. ‘Archaeological Excavations at Gua Sireh (Serian), and Lubang Angin (Gunong Mulu National Park), Sarawak, Malaysia’. Sarawak Museum Journal Special Monograph No. 6.
Lamb, A. 1961. Federation Museums Journal, Kuala Lumpur, Vol. VI (NS), P1.1.
Leigh, R.W. 1928. ‘Dental Pathology of Aboriginal California’. Univ. of Calif American Archaeology and Ethnology 23 (10): 399-440.
Ling Roth, H. 1896. The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo. Vol II. London.
McLoughlin, P. 1976. ‘Craniometry of the Punan’. Sarawak Museum Journal XXIV, 45: 113-121.
Medway, Lord. 1973. ‘The Antiquity of Domesticated Pigs in Sarawak’. JMBRAS, XLVl, Pt. 2. No. 224. 169-178.
Medway, Lord. 1977. ‘The Ancient Domestic Dogs of Malaysia’. JMBRAS, L, Pt. 1, No. 231: 14-27 (gives an outline plan of Lobang Kudih on p. 82).
Mera’ee bin Abdullah. 2001. ‘Sya’ir Jerjezang- A Tale of Niah in the Age of Splendour’ translation by Lord Medway, 5th Earl of Cranbrook.
Moore, E. 1970. ‘A Suggested Classification of Stonewares Martabani type’. Sarawak Museum Journal XVIII, 36-37: 1-78 and plates 1-19.
Morrison, H. 1965. ‘Sarawak’. Donald Moore Gallery, Singapore. 2nd Edition
Mourant, A.E. 1954. The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups.
Nieuwenhaus. 1935. ‘Zur der Biologie und Anthropologie der Kenja in Nordost Borneo’. Anthropos Band xxx.
Sandin, B. 1958. ‘Some Niah Folklore and Origins’. Sarawak Museum Journal VIII, 12: 646-662.
St John, Spenser. 1862. Life in the Forests of the Far East. 2 vols. and Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints of 1974. Chapter II, 79-125 describes the Kayans of the Baram, which, as he makes no distinction, probably incorporated the Kenyah.
Sutlive, V. and J. 1994. Dictionary of Iban and English.
Trotter and Gleser, G.C. 1952. ‘Estimations of stature from the Long Bones of American Whites and Negros’. Amer. J. Phys. Anthropology: 463-574.
Zainie, C. with Harrisson, T. 1967. ‘Early Chinese Stonewares excavated in Sarawak, 1947-1967’. Sarawak Museum Journal XV, 30/31: 30-90.
Zeuner, F.E. 1963. A History of Domesticated Animals. Hutchinson & Co. London.

Useful Links

Scan for Mobile

Calendar

Polls

Announcement

Facebook

Youtube

	AJAX Error Sorry, failed to load required information. Please contact your system administrator.
Close