Zooarchaeology at the Niah Caves, Sarawak: Context and research issues

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Volumn 19, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 447-463

  Barker, G ^a   Piper, Phil J ^b   Rabett, R J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES   (Philippines)

Author keywords

Borneo; Hunting subsistence strategies; Neolithic; Niah Caves; Palaeolithic; Zooarchaeology

Indexed keywords

EID: 70349635521     PISSN: 1047482X     EISSN: 10991212     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/oa.1100     Document Type: Editorial

References (93)

1. Anon. 1873. The caves of Mount Sobis. Sarawak Gazette 3(68): 59-60.
2. Aldridge PM, Cranbrook, Earl of (IV). 1963. Deep bat remains from Niah Cave excavations, 1954-61. Part 1: 1954-60. Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (21-22 New Series): 201-213.
3. Barker G. 2006. The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: Why Did Foragers Become Farmers?. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
4. Barker G, Lloyd-Smith L. In press. The prehistoric funerary archaeology of the Niah Caves, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo). In Journeys into the Darkness: a Crosss-Cultural Perspective of Caves as Sacred Spaces, Moyes H, Brady J (eds). Plenum Press: New York.
5. Barker G, Barton H, Beavitt P, Chapman S, Derrick M, Doherty C, Farr L, Gilbertson D, Hunt C, Jarvis W, Krigbaum J, Maloney B, McLaren S, Pettitt P, Pyatt B, Reynolds T, Rushmore G, Stephens M. 2000. The Niah Caves project: preliminary report on the first (2000) season. Sarawak Museum Journal 55 (76 New Series): 111-149.
6. Barker G, Badang B, Barton H, Beavitt P, Bird M, Daly P, Doherty C, Gilbertson D, Hunt C, Manser J, McLaren S, Paz V, Pyatt B, Reynolds T, Rose J, Rushmore G, Stephens M. 2001. The Niah Cave project: the second (2001) season of fieldwork. Sarawak Museum Journal 56 (77 New Series): 36-117.
7. Barker G, Barton H, Beavitt P, Bird M, Daly P, Doherty C, Gilbertson D, Hunt C, Lewis H, Manser J, McLaren S, Paz B, Piper P, Pyatt B, Rabett R, Reynolds T, Rose J, Rushworth G, Stephens M. 2002a. Prehistoric foragers and farmers in Southeast Asia: renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 68: 147-164.
8. Barker G, Barton H, Bird M, Cole F, Daly P, Gilbertson D, Hunt C, Krigbaum J, Lampert C, Lewis H, Lloyd-Smith L, Manser J, Menotti F, Paz V, Piper P, Pyatt B, Rabett R, Reynolds T, Stephens M, Thompson G, Trickett M, Whittaker P. 2002b. The Niah Cave Project: the third (2002) season of fieldwork. Sarawak Museum Journal 57 (78 New Series): 87-177.
9. Barker G, Barton H, Bird M, Cole F, Daly P, Dykes A, Farr L, Gilbertson D, Higham T, Hunt C, Knight S, Kurui E, Lewis H, Lloyd-Smith L, Manser J, McLaren S, Menotti F, Piper P, Pyatt B, Rabett R, Reynolds T, Shimmin J, Thompson G, Trickett M. 2003. The Niah Cave project: the fourth (2003) season of fieldwork. Sarawak Museum Journal 58 (79 New Series): 45-120.
10. Barker G, Barton H, Bird M, Daly P, Datan I, Dykes A, Farr L, Gilbertson D, Harrisson B, Hunt C, Higham T, Kealhofer L, Krigbaum J, Lewis H, McLaren S, Paz V, Pike A, Piper P, Pyatt P, Rabett R, Reynolds T, Rose J, Rushworth G, Stephens M, Stringer C, Thompson G, Turney C. 2007. The 'human revolution' in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behaviour of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution 52: 243-261.
11. Barton H. 2005. The case for rainforest foragers: the starch record at Niah Cave, Sarawak. In The Human Use of Caves in Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia, Barker G, Gilbertson D (eds). University of Honolulu Press: Hawaii; 56-72. Special Number of Asian Perspectives 44.
12. Barton H. 2006. Starch granules from Niah Cave sediments. In Ancient Starch Research, Torrence R, Barton H (eds). Left Coast Press: Walnut Creek, CA; 132-134.
13. Bellwood P. 1997. Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago. University of Honolulu Press: Hawaii.
14. Bellwood P. 2006. First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford/Maldon.
15. Brothwell DR. 1960. Upper Pleistocene human skull from Niah Caves. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 323-349.
16. Clutton-Brock J. 1959. Niah's Neolithic dog. Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (13-14 New Series): 143-145.
17. Cranbrook, Earl of (IV). 1963. Niah cave bone - VII. Crocidura (shrews). Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (21-22 New Series): 192-195.
18. Cranbrook, Earl of (IV). 1966. Bat remains from Niah cave excavations, 1964. Sarawak Museum Journal 14 (28-29 New Series): 224-228.
19. Cranbrook, Earl of (V). 1988. The contribution of archaeology to the zoogeography of Borneo, with the first record of a wild canid of early Holocene age. Fieldiana 1385, Zoology 12 (New Series): 1-7.
20. Cranbrook, Earl of. 2000. Northern Borneo environments of the past 40 000 years: archaeozoological evidence. Sarawak Museum Journal 55 (76 New Series): 61-110.
21. Cranbrook, Earl of. 2005. A.H. Everett, Wallace's Candidate, and the Fauna of the Bau Limestone Area. Paper presented at Wallace in Sarawak - 150 years later: an International Conference on Biogeography and Biodiversity, Kuching Sarawak, 13 - 15th July, 2005.
22. Cranbrook, Earl of, Labang D. 2003. Bearded pigs (Sus barbatus): tooth-wear and aging wild populations in Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal 58 (79 New Series): 163-182.
23. Cranbrook, Earl of, Piper PJ. 2007a. Sarawak through the ice ages to the present time: environmental change and human impacts on the past and present distribution of mammals. In Proceedings of the Regional Conference: Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Planted Forests in South East Asia, Stuebing RB, Unggang J, Ferner J, Ferner J, Giman B, Kum Ping K (eds). Forest Department, Sarawak Forest Corporation: Kuching; 75-92.
24. Cranbrook, Earl of, Piper PJ. 2007b. The Javan rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus in Borneo. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 55(1): 229-232.
25. Cranbrook, Earl of, Piper PJ. 2008. Post-Pleistocene evolution of Bornean shrews Crocidura foetida (Mammalia, Soricidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 413-419.
26. Cranbrook, Earl of, Piper PJ. 2009. Borneo records of Malay tapir, Tapirus indicus Desmarest: a zooarchaeological and historical review. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 491-507. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1015
27. Cucchi T, Fujita M, Dobney K. 2008. New insights into pig taxonomy, domestication and human dispersal in Island Southeast Asia: molar shape analysis of Sus remains from Niah Caves, Sarawak. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 508-530. DOI: 10.1002/oa.974
28. Drawhorn GM. 1994. The systematics and paleodemography of fossil orangutans (Genus Pongo). Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of California.
29. Everett AH, Evans J, Busk G. 1880. Report on the exploration of the caves of Borneo. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 203: 310-321.
30. Gilbertson D, Bird M, Hunt C, McLaren S, Mani Banda R, Pyatt B, Rose J, Stephens M. 2005. Past human activity and geomorphological change in a guano-rich tropical cave mouth: the late Quaternary succession in Niah Cave, Sarawak. In The Human Use of Caves in Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia, Barker G, Gilbertson D (eds). University of Honolulu Press: Hawaii; 16-41. Special Number of Asian Perspectives 44.
31. Harrison T. 1996. The palaeoecological context at Niah Cave, Sarawak: evidence from the primate fauna. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 14: 90-100.
32. Harrison T. 2000. Archaeological and ecological implications of the primate fauna from prehistoric sites in Borneo. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 20: 133-146.
33. Harrison T, Krigbaum J, Manser J. 2006. Primate biogeography and ecology on the Sunda Shelf islands: a paleontological and zooarchaeological perspective. In Primate Biogeography, Lehman S, Fleagle J (eds). Kluwer Academic: New York; 331-372.
34. Harrisson B. 1967. A classification of Stone Age burials from Niah great cave, Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal 15(30-31 New Series): 126-200.
35. Harrisson T. 1954. Some ceramics excavated in Borneo. Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, London 28: 2-11.
36. Harrisson T. 1957. The Great Cave of Niah: a preliminary report on Bornean prehistory. Man 57: 161-166.
37. Harrisson T. 1958. The caves at Niah: a history of prehistory. Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (12 New Series): 549-595.
38. Harrisson T. 1959a. New archaeological and ethnological results from Niah Caves, Sarawak. Man 59: 1-8.
39. Harrisson T. 1959b. Radio carbon C-14 datings from Niah: a note. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (13-14 New Series): 136-138.
40. Harrisson T. 1966. Lobang Angus, a frequentation cave at Niah - I. Sarawak Museum Journal 14 (28-29 New Series): 217-223.
41. Harrisson T. 1967. Niah Caves: progress report to 1967. Sarawak Museum Journal 15 (30-31 New Series): 95-96.
42. Harrisson T. 1972a. The prehistory of Borneo. Asian Perspectives 13: 17-45.
43. Harrisson T. 1972b. The Borneo stone age - in light of recent research. Sarawak Museum Journal 20 (40-41 New Series): 385-412.
44. Harrisson T, Medway Lord. 1962. A first classification of prehistoric bone and tooth artifacts (based on material from Niah Great Cave). Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (19-20 New Series): 335-362.
45. Harrisson T, Tweedie MWF. 1951. Excavation of Gua Bungoh in south-west Sarawak. Journal of the Polynesian Society 69: 164-186.
46. Harrisson T, Hooijer DA, Medway Lord. 1961. An extinct giant pangolin and associated mammals from Niah Cave, Sarawak. Nature 189(4759): 166.
47. Higham TFG, Barton H, Turney CSM, Barker G, Bronk Ramsey C, Brock F. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from tropical sequences: results from the Niah Great Cave, Sarawak, and their broader implications. Journal of Quaternary Science 24(2): 189-197.
48. Hooijer DA. 1960a. The giant pangolin (Manis palaeojavanica Dubois) from Niah. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 350-355.
49. Hooijer DA. 1960b. The Orang-utan in Niah Cave prehistory. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 408-421.
50. Hooijer DA. 1962. Prehistoric bone: the gibbons and monkeys of Niah Great Cave. Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (19-20 New Series): 428-448.
51. Hooijer DA. 1963. Further Hell mammals from Niah. Sarawak Museum Journal 12 (21-22 New Series): 196-200.
52. Hunt CO, Rushworth G. 2005. Cultivation and human impact at 6000 cal yr BP in tropical lowland forest at Niah, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Quaternary Research 64: 460-468.
53. Ki-Kydd K, Piper PJ. 2004. Identification of morphological variation in the humeri of Bornean primates and its application to zooarchaeology. Archaeofauna 13: 85-95.
54. King W. 1962. Palaeolithic reptile and amphibian remains from Niah Great Cave. Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (19-20 New Series): 450-452.
55. von Koenigswald GHR. 1958. Remarks on the prehistoric fauna of the Great Cave. Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (12 New Series): 620-626.
56. Krigbaum J. 2005. Human subsistence in the West Mouth (Niah Cave, Sarawak) burial series using stable isotopes of carbon. In The Human Use of Caves in Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia, Barker G, Gilbertson D (eds). University of Honolulu Press: Hawaii, 73-89. Special Number of Asian Perspectives 44.
57. Krigbaum J, Datan I. 1999. The Deep Skull of Niah: Borneo's first people. Borneo 5(1): 12-17.
58. Krigbaum J, Datan I. 2005. The Deep Skull and associated human remains from Niah Cave. In The Perak Man and Other Prehistoric Skeletons of Malaysia, Zuraina Majid (ed.). Pulau Pingang, Penerbit Universiti Sains: Malaysia; 131-154.
59. Medway Lord. 1958a. Food bone in the Niah Cave excavations (-1958), a preliminary report. Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (12 New Series): 627-636.
60. Medway Lord. 1958b. Rhinoceros' and pigs' teeth as Niah charms. Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (12 New Series): 637-638.
61. Medway Lord. 1959. Niah animal bone II: (1954-8). Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (12-13 New Series): 151-163.
62. Medway Lord. 1960a. The tapir at Niah. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 146.
63. Medway Load. 1960b. Niah cave bone III - Hell bone (-1959). Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 361-363.
64. Medway Lord. 1960c. Niah cave bone IV - Shrew (Crocidura sp.). Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 364-367.
65. Medway Lord. 1961 The Malay tapir in late Quaternary Borneo. Sarawak Museum Journal 9 (15-16 New Series): 356-360.
66. Medway Lord. 1963a. Niah Cave animal bone VI - new records. Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (21-22 New Series): 188-191.
67. Medway Lord. 1963b. Niah Cave bone VII - Crocidura (Shrews). Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (21-22 New Series): 192-195.
68. Medway Lord. 1964a. Niah cave bone VII: size changes in the teeth of two rats, Rattus sabanus Thomas and R. muelleri Jentink. Sarawak Museum Journal 11 (23-24 New Series): 616-623.
69. Medway Lord. 1964b. The late Upper Pleistocene fauna of Borneo. Studies in Speology 1: 33-37.
70. Medway Lord. 1965. Niah Cave bone VIII - Rhinoceros. Sarawak Museum Journal 12 (25-26 New Series): 77-82.
71. Medway Lord. 1966a. Animal remains from Lobang Angus, Niah. Sarawak Museum Journal 14 (28-29 New Series): 185-216.
72. Medway Lord. 1966b. Bat remains from Niah Cave excavations, 1964. Sarawak Museum Journal 14 (28-29 New Series): 224-228.
73. Medway Lord. 1973. The antiquity of domesticated pigs in Sarawak. Journal of the Malaysian Branch Royal Asiatic Society 46(2): 169-178.
74. Medway Lord. 1978. The wild pig remains from the West Mouth, Niah Cave. Sarawak Museum Journal 25 (46 New Series): 21-39.
75. Medway Lord. 1979. The Niah excavations and an assessment of the impact of early man on the mammals of Borneo. Asian Perspectives 20(1): 51-69.
76. Oakley KP. 1979. Fossil coral artefact from Niah cave. Asian Perspectives 20(1): 70-74.
77. Piper PJ, Cranbrook, Earl of. 2007a. The potential for large protected areas for the secure re-introduction of Borneo's lost 'Megafauna': a case for the Malay tapir Tapirus indicus. In Proceedings of the Regional Conference: Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Planted Forests in South East Asia, Stuebing RB, Unggang J, Ferner J, Ferner J, Giman B, Kum Ping K (eds). Forest Department, Sarawak Forest: Corporation Kuching; 161-168.
78. Piper PJ, Cranbrook, Earl of. 2007b. Niah cave bone IX: first Pleistocene record of Hose's pygmy shrew Suncus hosei. Sarawak Museum Journal 63 (84 New Series): 227-232.
79. Piper PJ, Rabett RJ. 2009a. Disentangling the Harrisson archive to interpret the spatial and temporal distribution of vertebrate remains at Niah Caves, Sarawak. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 464-475. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1045
80. Piper PJ, Rabett RJ. 2009b. Hunting in a rainforest: evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus, Niah Caves, Sarawak. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 551-565. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1046
81. Piper PJ, Cranbrook, Earl of, Rabett RJ. 2007a. Confirmation of the presence of the tiger Panthera tigris (L.) in Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Borneo. Malayan Nature Journal 59(3): 259-267.
82. Piper PJ, Rabett RJ, Cranbrook, Earl of. 2007b. New discoveries of an extinct giant pangolin (Manis cf. palaeojavanica Dubois) at Niah Cave, Sarawak, Borneo: biogeography, palaeoecology, and taxonomic relationships. Sarawak Museum Journal 63 (84 New Series): 205-226.
83. Piper PJ, Rabett RJ, bin Kurui E. 2008. Using community composition and structural variation in terminal Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages to identify human hunting behaviour at Niah Caves, Borneo. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 28: 88-98.
84. Pritchard PCH, Rabett RJ, Piper PJ. 2009. Distinguishing species of geoemydid and trionychid turtles from shell fragments: evidence from the Pleistocene at Niah Caves, Sarawak. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 531-550. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1038
85. Rabett RJ. 2002. Bone technology and subsistence variability in prehistoric Southeast Asia. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge.
86. Rabett RJ. 2005. The early exploitation of Southeast Asian mangroves: bone technology from caves and open sites. In The Human Use of Caves in Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia, Barker G, Gilbertson D (eds). 154-179. Special Number of Asian Perspectives 44.
87. Rabett RJ, Barker G. 2007. Through the looking glass: new evidence on the presence and behaviour of late Pleistocene humans at Niah Cave, Sarawak, Borneo. In Rethinking the Human Revolution, Mellars P, Boyle K, Bar-Yosef O, Stringer C (eds). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge; 411-424.
88. Rabett RJ, Piper PJ, Barker G. 2006. Bones from Hell: preliminary results of new work on the Harrisson faunal assemblage from the deepest part of Niah Cave, Sarawak. In Uncovering Southeast Asia's Past: Selected Papers from the 10th International Conference of European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Bacus EA, Glover IC, Pigott VC (eds). NUS Press: Singapore; 6-59.
89. Stephens M, Gilbertson D, Rose J, Canti M. 2005. The micromorphology of cave sediments in the humid tropics: Niah Cave, Sarawak. In The Human Use of Caves in Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia, Barker G, Gilbertson D (eds). University of Honolulu Press: Hawaii; 42-55. Special Number of Asian Perspectives 44.
90. Stephens S, Mattey D, Gilbertson DD, Murray-Wallace CV. 2008. Shell-gathering from mangroves and the seasonality of the Southeast Asian Monsoon using high-resolution stable isotopic analysis of the tropical estuarine bivalve (Geloina erosa) from the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak: methods and reconnaissance of mollusks of Early Holocene and modern times. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2686-2697.
91. Stimpson CM. 2009. Raptor and owl bone from Niah Caves, Sarawak: identifications and morphological variation in the humerus and tarsometatarsus of selected raptors. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 19: 476-490. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1047
92. Tweedie MWF. 1953. The Stone Age in Malaya. Journal of the Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society 26: part 2.
93. Zuraina Majid. 1982. The West Mouth, Niah, in the prehistory of Southeast Asia Kuching. Sarawak Museum Journal 29 (52 New Series): special monograph no. 3.