Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak
The paper describes the initial results from renewed investigations at Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 of the c. 40,000–year old ‘Deep Skull’. The archaeological sequences from the West Mouth and the other entrances of the cave complex investigated by T...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2002
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| _version_ | 1824458598464356352 |
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| author | Barker, G Barton, H Beavitt, P Bird, M Daly, P Doherty, C Gilbertson, D Hunt, C Krigbaum, J Lewis, H Manser, J McClaren, S Paz, V Piper, P Pyatt, B Rabett, R Reynolds, T Rose, J Rushworth, G Stephens, M |
| author_facet | Barker, G Barton, H Beavitt, P Bird, M Daly, P Doherty, C Gilbertson, D Hunt, C Krigbaum, J Lewis, H Manser, J McClaren, S Paz, V Piper, P Pyatt, B Rabett, R Reynolds, T Rose, J Rushworth, G Stephens, M |
| author_sort | Barker, G |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The paper describes the initial results from renewed investigations at Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 of the c. 40,000–year old ‘Deep Skull’. The archaeological sequences from the West Mouth and the other entrances of the cave complex investigated by Tom and Barbara Harrisson and other researchers have potential implications for three major debates regarding the prehistory of south-east Asia: the timing of initial settlement by anatomically modern humans; the means by which they subsisted in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene; and the timing, nature, and causation of the transition from foraging to farming. The new project is informing on all three debates. The critical importance of the Niah stratigraphies was commonly identified – including by Tom Harrisson himself – as because the site provided a continuous sequence of occupation over the past 40,000 years. The present project indicates that Niah was first used at least 45,000 years ago, and probably earlier; that the subsequent Pleistocene and Holocene occupations were highly variable in intensity and character; and that in some periods, perhaps of significant duration, the caves may have been more or less abandoned. The cultural sequence that is emerging from the new investigations may be more typical of cave use in tropical rainforests in south-east Asia than the Harrisson model. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:28:26Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:7bf09b01-202e-4995-b3ba-a4e79cdd2157 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:28:26Z |
| publishDate | 2002 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:7bf09b01-202e-4995-b3ba-a4e79cdd21572024-12-09T11:53:57ZPrehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, SarawakJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7bf09b01-202e-4995-b3ba-a4e79cdd2157EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2002Barker, GBarton, HBeavitt, PBird, MDaly, PDoherty, CGilbertson, DHunt, CKrigbaum, JLewis, HManser, JMcClaren, SPaz, VPiper, PPyatt, BRabett, RReynolds, TRose, JRushworth, GStephens, MThe paper describes the initial results from renewed investigations at Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 of the c. 40,000–year old ‘Deep Skull’. The archaeological sequences from the West Mouth and the other entrances of the cave complex investigated by Tom and Barbara Harrisson and other researchers have potential implications for three major debates regarding the prehistory of south-east Asia: the timing of initial settlement by anatomically modern humans; the means by which they subsisted in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene; and the timing, nature, and causation of the transition from foraging to farming. The new project is informing on all three debates. The critical importance of the Niah stratigraphies was commonly identified – including by Tom Harrisson himself – as because the site provided a continuous sequence of occupation over the past 40,000 years. The present project indicates that Niah was first used at least 45,000 years ago, and probably earlier; that the subsequent Pleistocene and Holocene occupations were highly variable in intensity and character; and that in some periods, perhaps of significant duration, the caves may have been more or less abandoned. The cultural sequence that is emerging from the new investigations may be more typical of cave use in tropical rainforests in south-east Asia than the Harrisson model. |
| spellingShingle | Barker, G Barton, H Beavitt, P Bird, M Daly, P Doherty, C Gilbertson, D Hunt, C Krigbaum, J Lewis, H Manser, J McClaren, S Paz, V Piper, P Pyatt, B Rabett, R Reynolds, T Rose, J Rushworth, G Stephens, M Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title | Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title_full | Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title_fullStr | Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title_short | Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak |
| title_sort | prehistoric foragers and farmers in south east asia renewed investigations at niah cave sarawak |
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