Unearthing Nenggiri’s Prehistoric Settlers, Older Than Perak Man?

This is based on rescue archaeological excavation works undertaken by a team of researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) led by Associate Professor Dr Zuliskandar Ramli,for the Nenggiri hydroelectric dam project in the Nenggeri Valley since September last year.

During the excavation, a human skeleton was found in a curled-up foetal position along with several artefacts, which showed the earliest settlers had inhabited the Nenggiri area 14,000 years ago, older than Perak Man.

Perak Man, the name given to the skeletal remains of a man believed to have lived between 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, was discovered in the Lenggong Valley district of Hulu Perak in 1991.

Zuliskandar, who is also senior fellow of UKM’s Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation, said the excavation project is among the initiatives undertaken by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) jointly with a 30-member team from UKM comprising archaeologists, assistant researchers, students as well as the village community.

These excavation works are undertaken to salvage part of Nenggiri Valley, which is rich in archaeological treasures of the past, before being fully submerged when the Nenggiri hydroelectric power plant goes on stream by mid-2027.

A total of 14 caves are involved in the excavation works.The caves include Gua Cha, Gua Chawan, Gua Kecil (Gua Kecil (Batu Tambah), Gua LubangKelawar (Batu Tambah), Gua Keledung, Gua Rahmat, Gua Gemalahand Gua Kelew.

“We have since found thousands of artefacts and ecofacts (objects of natural origin) around Nenggiri Valley such as ancient pottery fragments, stone tools such as hammer stones, grindstone tools, pounding tools and chipped stone tools as well as food waste such as snail shells and animal bones,” he told Bernama.

For the record, this writer and videographer Asan Ahmad were at the excavation site for an exclusive coverage of the UKM team’s findings at Gua Keledung Kecil, Nenggiri Valley recently.

Zuliskandar said the finds uncovered in Gua Keledung Kecil showed that the community had inhabited the cave since pre-Neolithic era that is some 14,000 years ago, into the Neolithic and metal ages and after the prehistoric era.

 

 

Sharing insights into his excavation exposure at the valley, Zuliskandar who brings with him over 20 years of experience in archaeology said, the prehistoric human skeleton in Gua Keledung Kecil was only discovered after the team decided to open a new excavation site at Gua Keledung Kecil after completing rescue excavation works at Gua Keledung Besar.

The cave was not in the team’s original plan due to its size which is smaller than other caves, he said, noting that larger caves were used as burial sites during the prehistoric era, adding that they later switched focus as the team failed to find any traces of pre-Neolithic culture at Gua Keledung Besar.

 “In actual fact, we only focussed on Gua Keledung Besar as small caves (Gua Keledung Kecil) were rarely used for prehistoric burial sites. However, prior to this, I used to visit Gua Keledung Kecil as I realised that this cave was actually connected to Gua Keledung Besar and this area is elevated above other areas,” he shared.

“My assumption then was that excavation works should be carried out here so that we can see the chronology of the prehistoric era at Bukit Keledung which I thought pre-Neolithic culture had been in practice in this area. I was right in that we found traces of pre-Neolithic culture and when our excavation works had reached over two metres, one of our team members found a human skull, and this was truly shocking,” he shared.

“Given that this is a small cave, I didn’t expect to see a human skeleton. We were truly excited as finally we managed to find the only complete human skeleton and this is the first prehistoric artefact on a hilly terrain,” he said. 

The human skull discovery at Pos Pulat was the team’s first, and it spurred the team to forge ahead by opening another excavation site measuring 2 metres X 2 metres wide next to the site where the skull was found.

Their untiring efforts and patience in facing the challenges throughout the one-month excavation works on the new site proved fruitful when the skull finds in the early stage led them to another discovery that is of a complete human skeleton, which was found in a curled-up foetal position.

Interestingly, new facts related to burial practices and the socio-cultural evolution of prehistoric life, especially in Lembah Nenggiri, were also discovered.

Among others, stone tools were found around the skeleton. They included grinding stones, a pounding tool, a hand-held axe, a chipping tool made from slate, and quartz crystal often used in prehistoric burial rituals.

The researchers also found that the way the skeleton was buried was the practice of the earliest prehistoric people, who had inhabited the Nenggiri Valley area 14,000 years ago.

 

Assistant researcher Amir Ridhuan Ahmad, 30, who was part of the excavation team over the past nine months, said never had he imagined that he would be part of the mission to uncover and save the ancient artefacts.

Sharing his experience on the expedition, which he described as invaluable, he said that the nation will be left behind if the younger generation is not actively involved in efforts to preserve the nation’s heritage, a far cry from the western world which has been strengthening measures to safeguard their cultural artefacts.

 “When Dr (Zuliskandar) told me that our expedition may take longer than Perak Man, it was difficult for me to imagine as all these will be buried underground.  If we don’t save them (the artefacts), who else would,” said Amir Ridhuan.

In 2018, a prehistoric human skeleton estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 years ago was discovered by a group of researchers from UKM, ATMA and Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI), in Gua Chawan, Nenggiri Valley.

All these are important archaeological heritage finds as the excavation team will be able to trace the culture of the primitive community and prehistoric human presence.

The river basin at the Nenggiri Valley was once inhabited by the prehistoric community. Besides providing early settlers with a source of food, rivers were their main means of transport across any locations.

Without a doubt, archaelogical excavation work can be challenging as it involves various processes such as to study past research before identifying a suitable location, assess the suitability of the site to carry out the excavation work as well as conduct a survey on the opening of a piece of land, food waste, pottery as well as stone tools.

Despite the risks of being harassed by illegal settlers who are seeking for bat droppings , the artefacts that they extract from land allow researchers to identify the huge archaeological potential at a certain area, and to start the excavation process as being carried out at the Nenggiri Valley.

 

To determine the date of an archaeological site accurately, various techniques are employed and the nation’s archaeological researchers often use radiocarbon dating or thermoluminescence dating.

Radiocarbon dating is a method designed to measure residual radioactivity while thermoluminescence dating is by measuring the accumulated radiation dose, of the time elapsed since material containing crystalline minerals was either heated (lava, ceramics) or exposed to sunlight (sediments).

“I prefer to use the radiocarbon technique as opposed to thermoluminescence dating given its suitability with the sample to be dated.

“However, for findings on the skeleton in Gua Keledang Kecil, we will send samples that are suitable and associated with the human skeleton found to the Beta Analytic Laboratory in Florida, the United States, for a chronometric date at this site.

“The chronometric dating is a normal practice among archaeological researchers to determine the date of the site. We have determined the site where the human skeleton dated back to about 14,000 years ago, said Zuliskandar.

Zuliskandar also works in collaboration with experts from the Faculty of Medicine, UKM led by Prof Dr Ima Nirwana Soelaiman, Head of the Research Project, ‘Bone Quality of Prehistoric Humans in the Malay Peninsula.’

Dr Ima and her team, Assoc Prof Dr Elvy Suhana Mohd Ramli, Assoc Prof Dr Gabriel Chin Kok Yong and Dr Wong Sok Kuan, are undertaking research on the bone quality and health status of these prehistoric people by examining their bone density and micro-structure. Bone density is measured by using the Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometer. From these measurements, they are able to detect whether the bone is normal or osteoporotic. The Micro-CT scanner is able to visualise the internal structure of the bone. The image generated can be reconstructed into a 3-dimensional picture using the appropriate software. The data obtained will be compared to data from modern humans.

 “We are happy to see the complete human skeleton at the excavation site shown by Dr Zuliskandar. We will take the long bones such as femur (thigh bone), tibia (shin bone) and humerus (arm bone) from the human skeleton to scan and determine the bone density besides looking at the internal structure of the skeleton. Vertebral bones will also be utilised for the same studies,” she said.

“These scanning techniques are very important because we can avoid cutting and destroying the bone. These bones are precious and should be kept intact for future studies. However, we have to be very careful as these 14,000-year-old bones are very fragile, she added.

 

Archaeologists also used forensic dental studies to determine the age as human teeth that remain intact for years after death. Age is determined through three main layers namely the enamel (the thin outer translucent covering of the tooth), dentin (the yellowish tissue that makes up the bulk of the teeth) and pulp (the innermost layer of the tooth which contains nerves, blood vessels, specialised cells and connective tissues).

Forensic ordontologist from the UKM’s Dental Faculty Dr Atika Ashar is the expert responsible for identifying the age and gender of the prehistoric humans. Her team will identify the shape of the jaw bone to ascertain whether it belongs to a female or male.

 “Besides the teeth, we determine the age of the human skeleton based on the teeth surfaces,” she said, adding that the morphometric, and radiological methods are used in the study.

 At present, the prehistoric skeleton will be extracted from Gua Keledung Kecil and kept at the Heritage Department’s conservation laboratory for preservation works.

Ongoing excavation works are in progress to save the national heritage before part of the Nenggiri Valley becomes submerged by the middle of 2027 for the 300MW hydroelectric power project,which is expected to benefit the people in Kelantan.

The RM5 billion Nenggiri Hydro-Electric Dam project which is expected to be operational in the middle of 2027 will boost renewable energy (RE) electricity capacity in Peninsula Malaysia.

Besides that, a mini gallery will be set up by TNB near the Nenggiri Dam to house all the finds, including the skeleton and ancient tools from the Nenggiri Valley.

 

Translated by Salbiah Said