• A piece of impressed pottery at the Nong Ratchawat site in Thailand. I’m out in the field today! With colleagues from @seameospafa, Silpakorn University and the Fine Arts Department filming training videos (more details on those soon). It’s nice to be down in the dirt again... #archaeology #thailand #suphanburi #neolithic #ceramics #nongratchawat #thaiarchaeology #southeastasianarchaeology #fieldwork
  • My last post of the year on the main website is a bumper issue on the highlights from this past year in Southeast Asian Archaeology. Link in the bio or here:https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/2020/12/29/southeast-asian-archaeology-2020-year-in-review/
#southeastasianarchaeology #yearinreview
  • Non-archaeology post, BLACK FRIDAY SALE: A couple of special deals for @adobe products and @expressvpn until 28 November. These are software that I actually use in my day-to-day work, so they might be useful to you too. 24% off for Adobe Creative Cloud (more if you’re a student or teacher!) and 3 months free for a 12-month subscription to Express VPN. Link below and in bio:
https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/blackfriday2020/
  • 1) Bangles from Burial 49, Ban Chiang early-middle period. 2) Bent spear tip from Burial 76. 3) The latest volumes from White and Hamilton on the archaeology of Ban Chiang, a significant Unesco World Heritage Site in Thailand. I’m looking for reviewers for the SPAFA Journal @seameospafa (ideally a Thai and/or a professional archaeologist) if you’re interested, send me a PM. #banchiang #thailand #bronzeage #udonthani #book #upenn #booksforeview #thaiarchaeology #southeastasianarchaeology #prehistory #neolithic #thaihistory #บ้านเชียง #unescoworldheritage
  • Entry to Wat Chedi Luang is not much, 40 baht for adults or $US1.30 - but when we entered there was nobody at the booth and the groundskeeper told us to go right in - the lack of tourists meant the inability to pay for ticketing staff. Heritage sites dependent on tourism are taking a beating, like the rest of the industry. We left a small donation to the temple, and at every temple we visited, to help for its upkeep. #covid19 #heritagetourism #archaeotourism #chiangmai #thailand #watchediluang
#วัดเจดีย์หลวง #thaiarchaeology #thaiarchitecture #lanna #lannaculture #southeastasianarchaeology #archaeology #archaeologytravel #oldchiangmai #southeastasia #northernthailand #ancientruins
  • Check out my story for the Night at the Museum event at the Bangkok National Museum - in conjunction with Thai Museums Day on September 19. The museum hosted a tea party with musical and dance performances, followed by guided tours at the galleries. It was a good opportunity to catch the new exhibition ‘San Somdet’ - an exploration of Thai history, archaeology and culture through the correspondence of two princes. #bangkok #thailand #nationalmuseum #nationalmuseumbangkok #nightatthemuseum #sansomdet #thaimuseumday #thaihistory #thaiarchaeology #southeastasianarchaeology
  • In Chiangmai yesterday and today and most of my trip was concentrated in the old city of Chiangmai. Wat Chedi Luang, located close to the centre of the city, is easily the largest stupa in the area despite it incomplete state. Built at the end of the 14th century and damaged by earthquake in the 15th century, the chedi once housed the Emerald Buddha that had previously resided in Luang Prabang and is now in Bangkok. H/T to @pathsunwritten for his guides to Chiangmai. The history and archaeology of northern Thailand is unfamiliar to me, what else should I visit, during my next trip to Chiangmai?
#chiangmai #thailand #watchediluang
#วัดเจดีย์หลวง #thaiarchaeology #thaiarchitecture #lanna #lannaculture #southeastasianarchaeology #archaeology #archaeologytravel #oldchiangmai #southeastasia #northernthailand #ancientruins #emeraldbuddha
  • Chedi Chiang Lom, the oldest building in Wat Chiang Man วัดเชียงมั่น, itself the oldest temple in the old city of Chiangmai. The temple was built in 1297, while King Mengrai was building his new city of Chiangmai. The Chedi is similar to Wat Chang Lom in Sukhothai. #วัดเชียงมั่น #chiangmai #chedi #stupa #elephant #thailand #thaiarchaeology #southeastasianarchaeology #lanna #buddhism #oldcity #ancientarchitecture
  • The Big Bad Wolf book sale might sound familiar if you live in Southeast Asia (especially Malaysia and Thailand), and this year due to the pandemic they
  • Gold leaf relic from the 11-12th century, found inside one of the Khmer temples in Northeast Thailand (I
Friday, March 5, 2021
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Home » Malaysia » Special: Six new Neolithic burials from Sarawak revealed

Special: Six new Neolithic burials from Sarawak revealed

Tags: bioarchaeologyBonesBorneo (island)burialGua Kain Hitam (site)human evolutionMokhtar Saidin (person)NeolithicNiah Caves (site)ochrePerak (state)Pulau Kelumpang (island)Sarawak (state)skullStephen Chia (person)Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (university)Universiti Sains Malaysia (university)
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This morning, the Centre for Archaeology Research, Malaysia at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang unveiled two sets of burials from the Niah cave complex in Sarawak and Pulau Kelumpang in Perak. Check out the new finds in this special  SEAArch web report.

Six human burials excavated from Gua Kain Hitam, Niah, Sarawak in June 2007.
Six human burials excavated from Gua Kain Hitam, Niah, Sarawak in June 2007.

Speaking at a press conference, Centre Director Dr. Mokhtar Saidin introduced the two sets of skeletal finds: Six Neolithic skeletal remains were recovered in June 2007 from Gua Kain Hitam near the Painted Cave in Niah, Sarawak, by a joint team led by Associate Professor Stephen Chia of USM. The three skeletons recovered from Pulau Kalumpang in Perak were recovered by an archaeological team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in August 2008, but were sent to the laboratory at the USM’s centre for conservation.  

L-R: Ipoi Datan (Sarawak Museum), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stephen Chia (USM), Sanib Haji Said (Sarawak Museum), Dr Mokhtar Saidin (USM) and Assoc. Prof. Hirofumi Matsumura (Sapporo Medical University).
L-R: Ipoi Datan (Sarawak Museum), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stephen Chia (USM), Sanib Haji Said (Sarawak Museum), Dr Mokhtar Saidin (USM) and Assoc. Prof. Hirofumi Matsumura (Sapporo Medical University).

The six skeletons represent the most significant find from the Niah cave complex in almost 50 years. The caves of Niah were first excavated in 1958 by Tom and Barbara Harrison, and the earlier excavation unearthed, among other things, a fragment of skull that was dated back 40,000 years.

Burial 6, by far the most complete of the six skeletons. None of the burials had intact skulls.
Burial 6, by far the most complete of the six skeletons. None of the burials had intact skulls.

By comparison, the six skeletons presented today are young, dating 2,000 – 3,000 years. Despite the deterioration of the skeletal remains, a number of things could be garnered from the bones. Assoc. Prof. Hirofumi Matsumura of the Sapporo Medical University said that the humans were relatively short-statured, ranging between 150-160 cm (by comparison, Perak Man was about 170 cm). More significantly, the skeletons are of the Australomelanasoid affinity, which means they were natives of Sundaland (the geological land shelf on which much of island Southeast Asia sits on) and possibly represent the continuous habitation of the cave site rather part of the migratory group originating from Southern China that is thought to populate Southeast Asia in this period. Burial 2, a male, also had an abnormality on the left femur, but Dr. Matsumura said that it was too early to say if this abnormality was a result of an injury or some congenital disease.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Matsumura talking about Burial 2’s warped right femur.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Matsumura talking about Burial 2’s warped right femur.
A closer look at Burial 2’s femurs – the warped one is on top.
A closer look at Burial 2’s femurs – the warped one is on top.

Most of the skeletons were male, and they were buried with their head pointing to the Northwest; the exceptional female was buried the opposite direction, with her head pointing to the Southeast. In addition, pieces of ochre were placed around the head during burial, leading to the red colour in many of these skulls. It would seem that the sexual differentiation of burial orientations and the practice of burial with ochre indicate some sort sort of ritual, but the exact nature and reasons for these rituals are unclear.

The red-coloured skull of Burial 4
The red-coloured skull of Burial 4
The skeletal remains from Pulau Kalumpang, recovered as part of a UKM excavation in August 2008. They are currently undergoing desalination, a process that takes several weeks.
The skeletal remains from Pulau Kalumpang, recovered as part of a UKM excavation in August 2008. They are currently undergoing desalination, a process that takes several weeks.

That’s it for this special report, with special thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr Stephen Chia and the Centre for Archaeology, Malaysia for the kind permission to attend the press conference and take pictures. I’ll post the articles from the other news media as and when they get published – it’ll be quite interesting to see how they’ll cover this story – but you read it here first!
Find out more about the archaeology of the Niah Caves in:
– Archaeological work in Sarawak: With special reference to Niah Caves (Sarawak Museum occasional paper)
– Summary of archaeological work in Sarawak: With special reference to Niah Caves (Sarawak Museum occasional paper)
– Archaeology in Sarawak
– Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology)
– Early History (The Encyclopedia of Malaysia)

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Comments 2

  1. cavingliz says:
    12 years ago

    Thanks for this report with great photos. It’s good to see more detailed info, and it’s exciting news.

  2. Angela S-W says:
    12 years ago

    got to this from your archeology blog. This is great! I love the photos! It has aroused my curiosity to learn moe about these people. I hope the scientists figure out why the women were buried in the opposite direction from the males. Keep up the good work…

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