Discovering Niah

Niah has been a place of human activity for more than 50,000 years, and various early studies found in the caves show a pattern of subsistence living and hunting. But what were these activities, and what did the people there do?

Niah National Park’s cultural, natural wonders

Niah National Park, located in the southwest of Miri, is famous for its limestone caves and ‘Deep Skull’, which is currently on display at the Borneo Cultures Museum.

Niah is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Heritage ‘tentative’ list and is celebrated for both its stunning natural environment and archaeology.

Niah Caves’ map.

Niah Caves’ map.

Niah Caves’ map.

The ‘Deep Skull’, reconstructed from several fragments with the missing parts reconstructed in black plaster.

Oldest recorded human settlement in East Malaysia

Specifically, the main cave network consists of 21 caves with six large entrances, or cave mouths, surrounding a large limestone hill in the middle.

The largest cave is the West Mouth (Lobang Kuala), which is more than 60 metres high in part and where ‘Deep Skull’ was discovered.

Painted Cave is another significant cave known for its prehistoric rock paintings and burial ships. It was discovered by Barbara Harrisson in 1958 and contained 128 small, red-sized paintings on the cave walls. 

The paintings were made using hematite and dye material from plants and depict anthropomorphs standing on what appear to be boats or ships.

Dr Franca Cole, a consultant in Conservation and Archaeology at the Sarawak Museum Department, noted in her recent talk titled “Archaeology at Niah: Past Lives and Future Prospects” that excavations conducted for 140 years have demonstrated that Niah has been a place of human activity for more than 50,000 years.

According to her, various early studies found in the caves show a pattern of subsistence living and hunting.

Among these was the deliberate burial of an adult female, which has been directly dated by the Uranium series method to 37,000 to 36,000 years ago.

Archaeologically, the massive Niah Caves Complex is of international interest given that it is one of the few places in Southeast Asia with evidence of continuous human occupation during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.

The acknowledgment of the significance of Niah Caves as a site of international importance goes back to 1864, when A.R. Wallace reported to Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley the potential of the caves — as a site that was well worth investigating for evidence of early human fossils.

Huxley subsequently organised the first European expedition to Niah Caves, which was led by Alfred Everett from 1878 to 1879 and did not yield significant findings.

After a lull of 75 years, Tom Harrisson, who was then the curator of the Sarawak Museum, organised the first archaeological digs at Niah Caves in 1954. Together with his wife, Barbara Harrison, the excavations ran for 13 years until 1967, digging in several of the caves in the Niah Caves Complex and the adjacent areas.

The bone assemblage from the excavations led by the Harrissons comprised around 750,000 fragments, making it one of the largest Late Pleistocene and early Holocene assemblages of archaeological vertebrate remains in Southeast Asia.

The most renowned discovery was the ‘Deep Skull’ in 1958, which is a partial human skull from the deepest part of the West Mouth excavation, the so-called ‘Hell Trench’ due to the hot weather conditions the excavation team had to endure.

The ‘Deep Skull’ from various views.

The ‘Deep Skull’ from various views.

The ‘Deep Skull’ from various views.

The red-sized paintings on the Painted Cave’s wall.

The red-sized paintings on the Painted Cave’s wall.

The red-sized paintings on the Painted Cave’s wall.

In addition, the discoveries in the West Mouth of Niah Caves included 25 human burials dating to the Early Holocene and over 200 burials with Neolithic material culture, comprising respectively the largest Mesolithic and Neolithic cemeteries in the island of Southeast Asia.

Niah was a place for both the living and the dead, with food evidence showing changes in hunting strategies and the expansion of deliberate ‘vegeculture’ as climate and environment changed with time.

Within the chambers of the caves are millions of bats and swiftlets, which populate the nooks and crannies of the cave collection. The swiftlet population of Niah is predominantly the Black-nest Swiftlet, Aerodramus maximus.

The swiftlets make highly sought-after bird nests, which are used for traditional Chinese medicine and to make birds’ nest soup.

Niah Caves is also regarded as a sacred natural site by the surrounding indigenous communities. 

One of the caves is believed to be the remnants of a former village that was flooded due to a breach of taboos that affected their reverence for the sacred natural site. 

The cave was believed to be inhabited by various spirits, including some of the most important Penan heroes. It was the object of numerous taboos as well as important annual rituals aimed at securing peace, fertility, and good luck.

As part of the local belief, a ritual called semah used to be performed annually to appease the spirits of the caves and to ask them to protect the birds’ nests and guano collectors working in the caves.

It is considered a Penan ritual to be performed every year before the opening of the first formal harvest season in April. A spiritual medium (dayung), who has exclusive knowledge of the names of the spirits and can perform the chanting, conducts the ritual.

Climate change brought rising sea levels, and Niah was abandoned, becoming an offshore island c. 6,000 to 4,000 years ago. 

The caves were re-occupied around 4,000 years ago and are now predominantly a place of burial, culminating in the Neolithic and Metal Age cemeteries visible today.

It is tempting to view Niah as an overlay of culture upon nature, a place where humans lived in an untouched rainforest environment, but pollen data from Niah and nearby Loagan Bunut indicate repeating patterns of regeneration and change among plant species, following burning events from the Late Pleistocene onwards.

More recently, tropical rainforest has replaced the mangrove swamps formed when Niah was an offshore island.

Niah was, and is, a modified landscape: the product of more than 50,000 years of human interactions and a case study on Sarawak’s resilience to environmental change.

For those who wish to visit Niah National Park, the park headquarters is a two-hour’s drive from Miri or Bintulu, either via the old road or the new coastal road.

From the park headquarters, you need to cross the Niah River in a motorised boat and then take a one-hour walk on a walkway to reach the entrance of the Great Cave. The walkway also links to an Iban longhouse homestay.

It is worth taking your time and walking quietly along the way, as you may well see some of the park’s wildlife.

Colourful birds, squirrels, lizards, butterflies, and all manner of unusual insects and invertebrates are commonly seen. If you are lucky, you may see monkeys (you will certainly hear them), flying lizards, and the occasional hornbill.