Niah Cave

Niah National Park, located within Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the site of the Niah Caves, a limestone cave and archeological site. Niah National Park was 31.4 km² when it was gazetted in 1974.
The caves have been used by humans at different times ranging from the prehistory to neolithic, Chinese Sung-Era and more recent times.The Sarawak Museum began systematic archaeological work in the caves since 1954.

The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains dating to 40,000 years have been found. This is the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. More recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from ca. 46,000 to ca. 34,000 years ago. Painted Cave, situated in a much smaller limestone block of its own, some 150 metres from the Great Cave block's south eastern tip, has rock paintings dated as 1,200 years old. Archeologists have claimed a much earlier date for stone tools found in the Mansuli valley, near Lahad Datu in Sabah, but precise dating analysis has not yet been published.

Research was pioneered by Tom Harrisson in the 1950/60s. Since then local universities and foreign scientists have continued the archaeological research, and many articles have been published in the Sarawak Museum Journal. The site has been re-excavated (1999–2003+) by a joint British-Malaysian expedition to determine the accuracy of Harrisson's work.
Source:Wikipedia

Thanks to dear Violet for this great card for Leap day!

Sent: 29 February 2016   Received: 2 March 2016   Travelled: 2 days