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THE LENGGONG VALLEY, PERAK The Lenggong valley in Ulu Perak is one of Peninsular Malaysia's most important areas for archaeology, as excavations have revealed many traces of Malaysia's prehistory. The town of Lenggong is situated some 100 kilometres north of Ipoh on the Kuala Kangsar to Grik road. A new highway runs from the Kuala Kangsar toll to Lenggong. It is the site of the oldest known place of human activity in the Peninsula. Today it is still a rural area, with small kampungs surrounded by green vegetation and limestone hills. Lenggong can be likened to an open-air museum, and is home to legends, skeletons, cave drawings and precious finds such as jewellery, pottery, weapons and stone tools. Many of the caves in the Lenggong area have revealed evidence of ancient humans having lived and hunted in this area. | ||||
Perak Man Perak Man, found in 1991, is the only complete human skeleton which has been found in Malaysia. The cave that was his final resting place is called Gua Gunung Runtuh and is situated in Bukit Kepala Gajah or Elephant's Head Hill in the Lenggong Valley. The skeleton has been dated at between 10-11,000 years old, which makes him a Stone Age man, from the Palaeolithic period. It is believed he was an important member of his tribe judging by the way he was buried, in a foetal position, accompanied by stone tools. He was about 157cm tall and probably aged between 30-55 when he died. Perak Woman was found more recently in 2004. This is an 8000 year old skeleton found in Gua Teluk Kelawar in Lenggong. Muzium Negara has some simple information on Perak Man | ||||
Kota Tampan area and Bukit Jawa The Kota Tampan area in Ulu Perak was the earliest known site of human inhabitation in Peninsula Malaysia, until the Bukit Jawa site was found later. Excavations which began in 1938 at Kota Tampan revealed an undisturbed stone tool production area, and some 50,000 pieces of stone have been found and recorded, and the culture is referred to as Tampanian. The workshop was initially dated at 30,000 years old, but this figure has now been revised to 74,000 years. More recently a team has been digging a site at Bukit Jawa, and this has been dated at 200,000 years old [by Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia], which is therefore far older than the Kota Tampan workshop, which is just 6 km away. But all these findings are still very young compared to those from Africa, where the predecessors of the human species originated about 3 - 5 million years ago. | ||||
Niah, Sarawak An older discovery is a 40,000 year old human skull found in Niah Cave in Sarawak in 1958. Since then archaeologists have continued to make important finds in Niah which reveal a period of human activity in the cave dating around 50,000 years ago. However Malaysia’s archaeological past is older than this (but is not directly cave related). | ||||
general Cave archaeology in Peninsular Malaysia started in the 1880’s, pioneered by scientists with an interest in geology. Gua Cha in Kelantan was one of the first sites dug, and revealed a Hoabinhian (10,000- 3,000 BC) occupation and burial site. Caves in Sabah, at Bantuong, are known to have been occupied by Man from 17,000 years ago. Wooden coffins, dating to the 14th century have been found in many caves in Sabah. | ||||
Cave paintings There are not many cave paintings in Malaysia. The oldest known only date back to about 2000 years, at Gua Tambun, near Ipoh. They are not actually in a cave, but on a cliff face, and sadly nothing has been done to protect the drawings. The famous paintings at the Painted Cave of Niah have been dated at about 1200 years. The Negrito aboriginal cave art at Lenggong is modern graffiti by comparison, only 100 years old. But all these pale into insignificance compared to cave art at places such as Lascaux in France, which date back some 15,000 years. | ||||
