Ref ID:	30021
Ref Type:	Journal Article
Authors:	Barker, Graeme Barton, Huw Bird, Michael Cole, Franca Daly, Patrick Dykes, Alan Farr, Lucy Gilbertson, David Higham, Tom Hunt, Chris Knight, Stephanie Kurui, Edmund Lewis, Helen Lloyd-Smith, Lindsay Manser, Jessica McLaren, Sue
Title:	The Niah Cave project: the fourth (2003) season of fieldwork
Date:	2003
Source:	Sarawak Museum Journal
Language:	English
Notes:	Further authors: Menotti, Francesco Piper, Phil Pyatt, Brian Rabett, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Shimmin, Jonathan Thompson, Gill Trickett, Mark<br><br> New Series Volume 79
Abstract:	The paper describes the preliminary results of the fourth (2003) campaign of fieldwork by the Niah Cave Project. The principal focus of the geomorphological work, in concert with detailed studies of the Harrissons' excavation prior to the field season, was on correlating the stratigraphies established by the project with the spit sequences of the Harrissons' excavations in the West Mouth. The work was completed in detail for the Hell Trench, and at a more general level for the large area of sediment removed by the earlier excavators from within and in front (south) of the rock shelter, the so-called 'frequentation' or 'habitation' zone, identified as correlating with our late Pleistocene/early Holocene Unit 4. Further studies were undertaken of the interior guano, both for palaeoenvironmental analysis and also of its geotechnical properties to inform understanding of the environmental conditions in which a major guano mudflow (Unit 3) impacted on the West Mouth archaeological zone c.38-42,000 BP. The archaeological programme concentrated on three major tasks: the excavation of a deep sounding in the Hell Trench to establish when human activity began in the cave further excavations in the 'Neolithic' cemetery zone to establish dateable sequences of burials, and to investigate the sediments underlying the burials and investigations of the nature and scale of the remaining archaeology in other cave mouths (Lobang Angus, Gan Kira, and Kain Hitam) along with the production of accurate topographic surveys of these entrances. The first part of this programme found enigmatic evidence of human presence prior to the main sequence of (seasonal?) visits to the West Mouth that dates to the time of the deposition of the Deep Skull c.43,000 BP and immediately beforehand (the sequence reported in SMJ> 2002) The new evidence remains to be dated. The cemetery excavations found a complex sequence of intercutting burials with clear evidence for the zoning of burial types, overlying guano in which were cut large round intercutting pits very similar to those found in previous seasons in Area B (the area between the cemetery and the Hell Trench) that have been dated to c.29,000 BP. The earlier excavations in Lobang Angus removed most of the archaeological deposits, but sufficient deposits remain to indicate its active use by humans probably from the late Pleistocene and through much of the Holocene (no absolute dates are yet available). The investigations of the Gan Kira and Kain Hitam cave entrances found that virtually all sediments of archaeological interest have probably been removed.
Date Created:	2/12/2007
Volume:	63
Number:	79
Page Start:	45
Page End:	119