Giant Caves of Borneo

Summary

The giant caves of Mulu and Niah National Parks, northern Sarawak, Borneo are a valuable ecotourism resource for Malaysia. The caves and their archaeological history of human occupation and exploitation, and the unique fauna, flora and ecosystems of the caves and the forests surrounding these, have resulted in Mulu National Park being designated a World Heritage Site.

The caves of Mulu National Park are developed in the 40-15 million year old Melinau Limestone and include the world’s largest cave passage (Deer Cave), the world’s largest river cave passage (Clearwater Cave) and the world’s largest cave chamber (Sarawak Chamber, Good Luck Cave). Younger caves at Mulu (e.g. Lang’s Cave, Cave of the Winds) contain spectacular dripstone and flowstone formations. A major attraction at Mulu is the daily evening exodus of 2 million wrinkle-lipped bats (Tadarida plicata) which snake out of the main Deer Cave entrance in formation, braving the attacks of bat hawks, in search of food. Archaeological investigations at the Mulu caves are in their infancy but initial excavations at the Cave of the Winds (Lubang Angin) have revealed burial sites dated between 1000BCE and 500CE which are similar to those of Niah caves and contain similar distinctive earthenware.

Caves of the Niah National Park are developed in the 20-15 million year old Subis Limestone and include Niah Cave and the Niah Painted Cave (Kain Hitam). The main Niah Cave is home to bats and swiftlets which have produced significant deposits of guano. The swiftlets also build nests high in the cave, and these have been highly valued for bird’s-nest soup and collected at Niah since the 8th Century. The West Mouth of the main Niah Cave is the largest cave entrance in the world and is the location of the important archaeological site excavated by Tom Harrison in the 1950s and 1960s, and more recently by international teams applying modern dating and environmental geochemical techniques. The West Mouth of the main cave is the site of the Niah “Deep” Skull, the oldest known fossil remains of Homo sapiens in SE Asia C isotope dated at ~43,000-44,000 years BP. The Niah site still has the potential to provide further constraints on the collonisation of modern humans in SE Asia, and in combination with chronologies on Homo erectus and the remarkable newly discovered dwarf hominin Homo floresiensis from western Flores Island, can contribute significantly to global models for human evolution and dispersal. The Painted Cave at Niah is an important ancient burial site and contains wooden boat coffins dated between 0 and 780 CE. The back wall of the cave is covered for about 50 meters with 100+ haematite paintings dipicting mainly boats and people (many dancing atop boats and holding spears and other objects, and others wearing peculear headdresses) but also snakes, snails and other animals. The paintings are not directly dated but are believed to be as old as 2,000 years and linked to the funery rituals associated with the boat burials.