The re-excavation of the rockshelter of Gua Cha, Ulu Kelantan, West Malaysia

Abstract

This thesis contains the results of an excavation at the rock-shelter of Gua Cha, in the district of Ulu Kelantan, Malaysia conducted between 29 January and 4 February 1979. Interest in the site began in the 1930s, but the most remarkable results were recovered by G. de G. Sieveking in 1954. However, the exact significance of the site remained obscure until 1979, especially with regard to the relationships between the Hoabinhian and the Neolithic. Sieveking had observed a break in the succession of the two industries, which was in contradiction with the evidence found at the other central Malayan sites. In the 1979 excavation, our findings generally paralleled those of Sieveking, except that no break in the Hoabinhian-Neolithic succession was observed. The archaeological record of the site shows that the Hoabinhians occupied the shelter from about 8-9000 years ago, and by about 3000 B.P. these Hoabinhians had adopted a new lifestyle, probably from the Neolithic inhabitants of adjacent areas of south Thailand. The Hoabinhian industry of Gua Cha is of a late phase as indicated by the well-made stone implements, and the economy was primarily based on hunting and gathering with game ranging from juvenile pigs to animals the size of wild cattle, but no edible plant remains were found. Unlike the Neolithic population, the Hoabinhians lived in relative isolation from their coastal contemporaries as indicated by the absence of marine shell. Carbonised rice dated to about 1000 B.P. was found on top of the Neolithic occupation, probably traced in by the Orang Asli, or brought in by traders. It is finally argued that the prehistory of Gua Cha is concerned mainly with the prehistory of the present Orang Asli population of central Malaya.