Interesting Facts about Niah National Park

Do You Know?

1. The oldest human remains in Southeast Asia along with many other relics of prehistoric man were discovered in the Great Niah Cave! And the carbon dating puts the oldest relic which is the skull of oldest human remains back to 40,000 years! This has made Niah Caves, one of the most important archaeological sites in the world[1] . Picture below shown the archaeology site in Great Niah Cave.

2. The most notable discovery done Harrison and his team was a human skull named as ‘Deep Skull”. The ‘Deep Skull’ was discovered in 1958 and was approximately at a level where stone tools had been found that yielded a radiocarbon date of around 40,000 years ago-the earliest evidence for human settlement in Borneo[2]. Pictures below shown from right:  Excavation site of ‘Deep Skull’, ‘Deep Skull’ and Barbara Harrison with ‘Deep Skull’ in December 27, 1958.

3. In the ancient, the prehistoric human buried their dead by floating them down river in funeral boats! There are artifacts and cave drawings found in the caves that showed that they have their own unique and beliefs. The death-ships have been dated as ranging between 1 AD and 780 AD, although local Penan folklore tells of the use of death ship burials as late as the 19th century [1]. Pictures below show wooden boat death ship (up) and cave drawing (down).

4. Niah Cave is also called as ‘Hell Trench. This name was given by Harrison’s excavators because of the heat and humidity in the particular part of cave’s entrance. And you can feel the heat, especially in the afternoon when the sun shone directly overhead ^[4]. Interestingly, this phenomena was said is one of the cause of rocking process in the archeological establishment (picture below).

5.Why Niah Cave is called The Great Cave? This is because Niah Cave covers an area of 11 hectares as large as 13 football fields! And the cave is also remarkable for the millions of bats and swiftlets. At after 60m high and 250m wide, it is one of the world’s most spectacular cave entrances^[1]!

6.. Have you ever visited a long house? You can visit and stayed in a longhouse of Niah National Park named Chang House. What is a longhouse?  A longhouse is a whole village of a community under one long roof that may be consists of 20 families or more! How long and how big is the longhouse? Come and experience yourself!

7.The excavation in Niah Caves dug out many human settlements in the area with chopping tools and flakes, axes, adzes, pottery, shell jewelry, boats, mats and then iron tools, ceramics and glass beads dating to the Iron Age ^[1]! The archaeologist also found cooking utensil made out of bone, stone and clay. These artifacts are said to be buried with the dead in the boat-like coffin.

8.The Painted Cave is named after the red hematite clay painting of human-like figures drawn on the rocks. These painting dates back at least 1000 years! The painting is located near a big burial ground and the detailed-painting was depicting the boat journey the dead into the afterlife ^[1].

9. The passage at the back of the Great Cave leads to a large chamber known as the Padang, where shafts of sunlight stream down from large holes in the cave roof to iluminate the bizzare rock formation in the Burnt Cave^[1]. This is another excellent spot for taking photos.

10.. During the rainforest walk, you will be able to enjoy and witness the beauty of the tropical rainforest.  There are diverse species of flora and fauna can be seen. During morning and if you are lucky, you will be seeing these small little creatures along the plankways that will stop you from continue walking and stopped by to take picture!

Reference: 

1. Sarawak Forestry: http://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-np-niah.html

2.The Great of Niah : http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/niahcave/history.htm

3.Cuti-cuti Malaysia : http://www.cuti.my/Sub/Sarawak/niah_great.htm

4.World Archaelogy : http://www.world-archaeology.com/features/niah-cave-sarawak-borneo/