Revisiting the 3000-year-old Neolithic burial ground of Gua Harimau, West Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a new phase of archaeological investigations, new radiocarbon dates and stable isotope analysis data for human teeth from Gua Harimau (Harimau Cave), a Neolithic cemetery located in the Lenggong Valley of West Malaysia (Malay Peninsula). Gua Harimau was previously investigated over the course of three field seasons between 1987 and 1995 and has been identified as a Neolithic-Bronze age cemetery that contains at least 11 human burials. In 2010, archaeological investigations by members of our team revealed an additional Neolithic adult burial. Our study suggests that burial practices at Gua Harimau were undertaken within a Neolithic context. Based on charcoal dates and direct radiocarbon determinations retrieved from tooth apatite we conservatively assign the use of the Gua Harimau as a Neolithic burial ground to approximately 3000 cal. years BP. Furthermore, carbon and oxygen isotope measurements of six individuals from Gua Harimau demonstrate a dependency on a terrestrial C₃-dominated diet, with the relatively narrow range of δ¹⁸O measurements suggesting a potential sedentary lifestyle for the community represented at Gua Harimau.

Introduction

Contemporary understanding of the Neolithic in West Malaysia is based upon discoveries made at more than 100 sites spread across inland caves and a few open sites near the west coast plain of the Malay Peninsula (Adi, 1981; Bellwood, 2013; Chia, 1997, Chia, 2005; Dunn, 1964, Dunn, 1966; Leong, 1991; Sieveking, 1954; Tweedie, 1953; Zuraina, 2003). The Malaysian Neolithic, in general, is signalled by the emergence of earthenware pottery industries, ground stone artefacts, evidence for more elaborate burial rituals and a subsistence economy that still largely depended on hunting-gathering with the adoption of occasional horticulture (Bellwood, 1985; Chia, 2005; Leong, 1990). To date, no clear evidence of sedentary settlement or the development of a complex economic system such as agriculture has been found in the Neolithic record of West Malaysia (Bellwood, 1985; Leong, 1987). Previously, Dunn (1964) and Adi (1981), in their archaeological investigations of Gua Kecil and Gua Cha, assumed the potential development of some form of Neolithic horticulture based on the marked decline in density of faunal remains in Neolithic layers. This claim, however, is still subject to revision due to the lack of archaeo-botanical evidence (Leong, 1990). In terms of chronology, it is widely accepted that a Neolithic population began to spread across the Malay Peninsular around 4000–3000 years ago, as indicated archaeologically through significant variation in locally-made earthenware, polished stone adzes and the symbolic use of shells and stones (Chia, 2005).

The economic transition from hunting and gathering to farming among the Neolithic communities of Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) has received considerable scholarly attention over the past three decades (see Barker et al., 2007; Bellwood, 2005; Higham, 2013; Kijngam, 2010; Castillo et al., 2018). The “regional continuity model” suggests the establishment of an indigenous Neolithic farming community in MSEA with little external influence (White et al., 2004; White, 2011), whereas the “two-layer” hypothesis instead proposes the spread of agricultural communities from the Yangtze Basin southward into MSEA during the Holocene (Bellwood, 1987, Bellwood, 1997, Bellwood, 2005; Bellwood et al., 1992; Matsumura et al., 2011; Spriggs, 1989). The timing of the transition to the Neolithic and the origins of Neolithic communities may be vary across different parts of MSEA, but it is evident that the spread of Neolithic culture became rapid around 4000 cal. yr BP (Oxenham et al., 2015). The majority of the Neolithic sites in Vietnam and Thailand, for example, have revealed evidence of agriculture and domestication of animals (see Barron et al., 2017; Bellwood et al., 2011; Castillo, 2011; Kealhofer and Piperno, 1994; Piper et al., 2014; Weber et al., 2010) following the introduction of more complex economic strategies across the region. However, economic shifts in the Thai-Malay Peninsula are less well documented. In the Neolithic context of West Malaysia, the transition from hunting-gathering to farming remains largely unknown given the lack of palaeobotanical investigation. There is, however, no clear evidence of a significant economic shift beyond hunting and gathering during the Neolithic period of the region, with the archaeological record of more than 10 culturally Neolithic sites across the Malay Peninsular lacking convincing record of agriculture, leaving its arrival time unknown (Adi, 1981; Bellwood, 2013; Davidson, 1994; Leong, 1990; Zolkurnain, 1998).

Owing to the uncertainty of chronology, subsistence system and the mobility of the Neolithic communities in the Malay Peninsular, we revisited Gua Harimau in Lenggong Valley - a Neolithic cave site located in the northern region of West Malaysia - in an attempt to address these issues. Previous archaeological investigations of the Lenggong Valley have identified at least five cave sites with Neolithic materials, with the ¹⁴C chronology suggesting the earliest Neolithic occupation in this region began around 4000 years ago (Chia, 2005; Goh, 2014). However, the reliability of this date derived from shell has always been questioned (Chia, 2005). Additionally, similar to other Neolithic sites in West Malaysia (see Bellwood, 1985; Leong, 1987), no strong evidence for sedentary settlement has been recognised in Lenggong Valley, with previous research indicating these cave sites were mainly used as a temporary campsite or as burial grounds. This paper reports on a new phase of research including another partially-disturbed human burial found in Gua Harimau. We present the results of new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating and first stable isotope profiles for Gua Harimau individuals. Our study also reviews previous work at Gua Harimau which is the second largest, and one of the archaeologically richest, Neolithic cemeteries found in West Malaysia (Chia and Zolkurnain, 2005; Zuraina, 2003).

Gua Harimau (Harimau Cave) is located in the Lenggong Valley in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, approximately 120 km from the southern border with Thailand (Fig. 1). The Lenggong Valley is bounded in the east by wet and humid tropical rainforest along the Perak River and contains a total of eight limestone hills with numerous caves covering an area of about six square kilometres. The topography of these karst complexes comprises steep-to-vertical walls with rounded tops and houses caves at different levels which originated from underground water processes (Mokhtar, 2005).

Years of archaeological research pointed to Lenggong Valley as an important prehistoric settlement area in Malaysia, with occupation spanning the Palaeolithic period to Metal Age (Zuraina, 2003). To date, the Kota Tampan site contains one of the most important Palaeolithic stone-tool workshops in MSEA which was sealed in by tephra from the Toba super eruption ca. 74,000 years ago (Zuraina and Tjia, 1988). The cave sites of this region, on the other hand, were predominantly occupied from the Late Palaeolithic to probable Metal period, spanning ca. 13,000 to ca. 1000 years ago (Zuraina, 2003).

The earliest occupation of the valley occurred from around 13,000 to 10,000 years ago and is documented at four cave sites: Gua Gunung Runtuh, Gua Kajang, Gua Batu Tukang and Gua Teluk Kelawar (Zuraina, 2005). Archaeological excavations at these caves have revealed high densities of cultural materials, such as stone artefacts, flexed human burials and animal remains (Goh and Mokhtar, 2018; Zuraina, 1994, Zuraina, 2005). All Late Palaeolithic burials were found in situ, mostly in a flexed position, and were associated with various types of mortuary goods. The stone artefact assemblages found within these caves were predominantly pebble tools, ranging from hammer stones, unifacially and bifacially flaked pebbles, to cores and large flake tools made from quartz and quartzite (Goh and Mokhtar, 2018).

Neolithic cultural materials have been found in the upper layer of almost all excavated cave sites in the Lenggong Valley. The earliest reliable ¹⁴C dates for the commencement of the Neolithic in the region are 3620 ± 50 yr BP at Gua Batu Tukang and 3170 ± 60 yr BP at Gua Harimau (Chia, 2005). To date, the archaeological record of the Metal Age of the Lenggong Valley is sporadic and represented by only two-small bronze celts with clay moulds, both recovered from Gua Harimau (Chia and Zolkurnain, 2005).