The Niah Cave Project: The Second (2001).
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
The Niah Cave Project: The Second (2001). |
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Author :
Graeme Barker, Dana Badang, Huw Barton, Paul Beavitt, Michael, Bird, Patrick Daly, Chris Doherty, David Gilbertson, Ian Glover, Chris Hunt, Jessica Manser, Sue McLaren, Victor Paz, Brian Pyatt, Tim Reynolds, Jim Rose, Garry Rushworth, and Mark Stephens |
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Abstract:
The preliminary results of the second (2001) season of fieldwork by the Niah Cave Project are presented, together with further information from initial studies of materials collected in the first (2000) season. The principal features of the sedimentary sequence in the West Mouth have been established, together with a preliminary relative sequence of the human use of the cave from the initial (Pleistocene) occupation to very recent times. The location and sedimentary context of the Deep Skull have been established with reasonable confidence, and C14 dates of c.43-42,000 BP have been obtained from immediately above the skull’s position, confirming the general accuracy of the date for the skull from the earlier excavations. A vestigial ‘Mesolithic’ archaeology has been found of pits, wooden structures, and middens. Small-scale investigations of part of the ‘Neolithic’ cemetery indicate a complex range and sequence of funerary activity, and there are midden deposits of broadly similar antiquity elsewhere. ‘Mesolithic’ and ‘Neolithic’ deposits sampled in 2000 have yielded microscopic evidence for the collection of many wild plant foods, but not for the presence of domesticated rice.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Graeme Barker et al. (2001). The Niah Cave Project: The Second (2001). The Sarawak Museum Journal, LVI (77): 37-120 |
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References
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