An Early Date from a Stone Mound (Perupun) in The Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak.


 

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
VOL LXX NO.91 DECEMBER 2012

 
 
Title : 
An Early Date from a Stone Mound (Perupun) in The Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak.

Author : 
Lindsay Lloyd-Smith

Abstract:
One of the most impressive types of monuments in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak is the large stone mound or perupun. So far, seventeen have been recorded at locations across the highlands, from Long Repun in the north, to Batu Patong in the south (Barker et al., 2008; Cluny and Chai, 2007; Hitchner, 2009). They are also known outside of the highlands area proper; at Long Peluan to the south (Valeria Mashman pers. comm., 25 July 2012), as well as reports of similar monuments around Long Bawang (where they are called terupun) over the border range in Kalimantan Indonesian (Arifin and Selato, 2003: 206-207). The mounds are circular to oval in plan and range in size from a few metres in diameter and under a metre high,comprising fewer than one hundred stones, to truly gigantic monuments over 25 metres across and several metres high, with probably over one thousand stones. The stones themselves are river rolled, and range in size from small pebbles (< 10 cm) to large boulders (50-70 cm) that would have needed several people to move.

DOI:
XXXX


How to cite:
Lindsay Lloyd-Smith. (2012). An Early Date from a Stone Mound (Perupun) in The Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXX (91): 117-126

References
  1. Arifin, K. and B. Sellato. 2003 Archaeological surveys and research in four sub-districts of interior East Kalimantan. Conservation Management in the Interior of Borneo: Unravelling past and present interactions of people and forests, In C. Eghenter, B. Sellato and G.S. Devung (eds) Social Science Research and Conservation Management in the Interior of Borneo: unravelling past and present interactions of people and forests. Jakarta: Centre for International Forestry Research: 199-240.
  2. Barker, G., Barton, H., Britton, D., Datan, I., Davenport, B., Janowski, M., Jones, A., Langub, J., Lloyd-Smith, L., Nyiri, B., and Upex, B. 2008. The Cultured Rainforest Project: the first (2007) field season. The Sarawak Museum Journal 86 (n.s.): 121-190.
  3. Barker, G., Barton, H., Boutsikas, E., Britton, D., Datan, L, Davenport, B., Ewart, I., Farr, L., Ferraby, R., Gosden, G., Janowski, M., Jones, S., Langub, J., Lloyd-Smith, L., Nyiri, B., Pearce K., and Upex, B. 2009. The Cultured Rainforest Project: the second (2008) field season. The Sarawak Museum Journal 87 (n.s.): 119-184.
  4. Bonatz, D., Neideland, J., and Tjoa-Bonatz, M. 2006. The megalithic complex of highland Jambi: an archaeological perspective, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 162 (4): 490-522.
  5. Quny W., and Chai, P. 2007. Cultural Sites of the Northern Highlands Sarawak, Malaysia: Megaliths and Burial Sites. Kuching: International Tropical Timber Organization and Forest Department Sarawak, Publication 2.
  6. Harrisson, T. 1959. World Within. A Borneo Story. London: the Cresset Press. Inside.
  7. Harrisson, T. 1964. Inside Borneo: The Dickson Asia lecture. The Geographical Journal 130 (3): 329-336.
  8. Heng, L.S. 2000. The chronology of the Bernam cist graves in Peninsular Malaysia, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 19: 65-72.
  9. Higham, T., Lloyd-Smith, L., Barton, H., Brock, E, and Turney C. Forth-coming. Radiocarbon dating, In G. Barker, D. Gilberston and T. Reynolds (eds) Archaeological Investigations in the Niah Caves, Sarawak 1954-2004. Cambridge; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Monographs.
  10. Hitchner, S. 2009. The Living Kelabit Landscape: Documenting and Preserving Cultural Sites and Landscape Modifications in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, The Sarawak Museum journal 87 (n.s): 1-77.
  11. Jones, S. 2012. Late Quaternary environmental history from the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo: A record of climate, vegetation and land-use. Unpublished PhD Thesis; Queens University Belfast.
  12. Lloyd-Smith, L., Barker, G, Barton, H., Datan, L, Gosden, C., Nyi'ri, B., Janowski, M. and Preston, E. 2010. The Cultured Rainforest Project: Archaeological investigations in the third (2009) season of fieldwork in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, The Sarawak Museum Journal 88 (n.s.): 57-104.
  13. Prasetyo, B. 2006. Austronesian prehistory from the perspective of the comparative megalithic. In T. Simanjuntak, I. Pojoh and M. Hisyam (eds). Austronesian Diaspora and the Ethnogeneses of People in Indonesian Archipelago: 163-173. Jakata: LIPI Press.
  14. Schneeberger, W F. 1979. Contributions to the Ethnology of Central Northeast Borneo (parts of Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah). Studia Ethnologica Bernesia no. 2 Bern, The University of Bern.

 

 

 
 

Copyright © 2021 Sarawak Museum Department
Last Updated On 20 Nov 2024

Operating Hours (Main Office)

Monday - Thursday
8.00am to 1.00pm & 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Friday
8.00am to 11.45pm & 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Saturday, Sunday, Public Holiday
Counter Closed
image Polls
image Announcement