Curnoe delivers his talk titled ‘Next Chapter in the History of Niah Caves’ yesterday.
KUCHING: Human pre-history has been established to have existed about 65,000 years ago in the Niah Caves system, exceeding the previous estimate of 45,000 years.
The discovery of ‘Deep Skull’ – believed to belong to a middle-aged woman who was buried about 35,000 years ago – in the West Mouth 60 years ago had positioned Niah Caves as a key global location in human pre-history.
The new timeline was reached after excavation at Trader’s Cave – part of the Niah Caves system – uncovered five pieces of microlithic tools aged 65,000 years, as well as a human skull aged 55,000 years.
University of New South Wales associate professor Dr Darren Curnoe, who specialises in paleo-anthropology and archaeology, pointed out that microlithic tools were usually used by early humans to carry out daily activities.
“Small pieces of rocks were sharpened and glued onto bones and wood to make barbs, spears and maybe even arrows,” he said during a talk titled ‘Next Chapter in the History of Niah Caves’ at Sarawak Museum here yesterday.
He said the new discovery puts Trader’s Cave as the oldest archaeological site in Borneo and the oldest site with human remains in Malaysia.
Beginning in 2017, the excavation work was a joint project between Sarawak Museum Department and the University of New South Wales to search for new archaeological evidence of early modern humans at Trader’s Cave.
The cave also provided the earliest reliable date of the arrival of modern humans – Homo sapiens – in Southeast Asia.
When asked on future excavation works at the site, Curnoe said his team will be returning to Niah Caves in February and March next year to further study the site.
He will be leading a scientific team of about 15 individuals, while another 20 to 25 people will be tasked with other archaeological works at the site.
The field season will last eight weeks instead of the usual three-and-a-half weeks.
He said talents from Universiti Sains Malaysia and other local universities, as well as Sarawak Museum and Sarawak Forestry Department, have already been approached to be a part of the next field work at Trader’s Cave.
“We will always work in partnership with local people to train up the next generation of Malaysian archaeologists to be among the world’s best,” he added.
The fieldwork was funded by Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of New South Wales, Sarawak Museum Department, Nanjing University and Scarp Archaeology.
Curnoe has been working in collaboration with the Sarawak Museum Department since 2011, focusing on reconstructing the timing of the initial settlement of Southeast Asia through to Australia by the earliest modern humans from Africa.
He has carried out research into early humans in many countries such as Australia, Kenya, China and South Africa for the past 20 years.