Malaysian rock art found to depict elite–Indigenous conflict
A team of researchers led by the Griffith Center for Social and Cultural Research in collaboration with The Sarawak Museum Department have become the first to date drawings of Gua Sireh Cave in Sarawak, uncovering a sad story ...
The paper has been published in the journal PLOS ONE, titled "Rock art and frontier conflict in Southeast Asia: Insights from direct radiocarbon ages for the large human figures of Gua Sireh, Sarawak."
The limestone cave of Gua Sireh in western Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) is famous for the hundreds of charcoal drawings lining the walls of its main chambers, attracting hundreds of visitors each year.
Approximately 55 km southeast of Sarawak's Capital, Kuching, the site is managed by the Bidayuh (local Indigenous peoples) in collaboration with The Sarawak Museum Department, with the drawings depicting Indigenous resistance to frontier violence in the 1600s and 1800s AD.
Radiocarbon ages for the drawings date them between 280 and 120 cal BP (AD 1670 to 1830), corresponding with a period of increasing conflict in the region when the Malay elites controlling the region exacted heavy tolls on Indigenous hill tribes, including the Bidayuh.
To the best of the team's knowledge, these radiocarbon dates are the first chronometric age determinations for Malaysian rock art.
Study co-lead, Dr. Jillian Huntley said the first step was establishing what had been used to make the drawings.
The dated rock art. Image by Andrea Jalandoni. Credit: Andrea Jalandoni