Sireh Cave Bone in Retrospect: Bone, teeth and other animal remains from Sarawak Museum excavations of 1954 and 1959.


 

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
VOL LXX NO.91 DECEMBER 2012
 
 
Title : 
Sireh Cave Bone in Retrospect: Bone, teeth and other animal remains from Sarawak Museum excavations of 1954 and 1959.
Author : 
Earl of Cranbrook
Abstract:
In 1989 Datan (1993) conducted a significant excavation in the mouth of the cave known as Gua Sireh (or Sirih, old spelling) located close to the Bidayuh settlement Pelaman Lanchang. at approx. 110° 28’ E, 1° 9’ N. The archaeological potential of this site had first been investigated on behalf of the Sarawak Museum in 1954 by the late Benedict Sandin, who filed a short report accompanied by a sketch map showing the locations of his five trial pits (Fig. 1). Sandin also brought back samples, of which one significant mammal tooth has been found among bagged material in the Museum’s archaeological store (a tapir canine, see below). In 1959 a fuller excavation was undertaken by the Sarawak Museum under the supervision of Wilhelm G. Solheim II and the Curator, the late Tom Harrisson. No report was published at the time, perhaps because relations between the two men had soured somewhat (see Solheim,1977 a, b), or because the much more exciting results from Niah proved a greater pre occupation for Harrisson (1957, 1958). The lack of an account of the work of his predecessors hampered Datan in making an overall assessment of the results of his 1989 excavation (Datan, 1993).
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61507/smj22-2012-8EF8-04
How to cite:
Earl of Cranbrook. (2012). Sireh Cave Bone in Retrospect: Bone, teeth and other animal remains from Sarawak Museum excavations of 1954 and 1959. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXX (91): 55-88
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