Niah Caves now a World Heritage site

 

Niah Caves, part of the Niah national park near Miri, Sarawak, is the home of human relics dating from the early Stone Age about 40,000 years ago. (Wikipedia pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Niah Caves in Sarawak, home to some of the oldest human remains discovered in Southeast Asia, has been listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

The Niah caves complex was listed by the world heritage committee at its meeting in New Delhi, India, today, according to Lukanisman Awang Sauni, MP for Sibuti and deputy health minister, in a posting on the X social media.

The caves, part of Niah national park, is the second site in Sarawak to be recognised as a world heritage site after Gunung Mulu national park in 2000.

The park covers 3,138 hectares of forest and limestone karst areas.

Niah Caves were long used by native communities to harvest bird’s nests.

In 1958, an archaeological team led by Sarawak explorer and historian Tom Harrison unearthed a skull at the West Mouth of the Great Cave, which was estimated to be 40,000 years old.

It was the skull of a modern human (Homo sapiens). Relics of human settlement, such as tools, cooking utensils and ornaments made of bone, stone or clay were also found, suggesting a long period of human settlement reaching back into the palaeolithic era.

Five sites in Malaysia have been listed by Unesco’s world heritage committee for their unique historical, natural or cultural value. The other three are Kinabalu park in Sabah; Lenggong Valley in Perak; and Melaka and George Town jointly as historic cities of the Straits of Malacca.

Langkawi is recognised as a world geopark. - FMT