5 0,00 YEARS OF STONE AGE CULTURE IN BORNEO — HARRISSON 529 



caves in the formation. The broad results fit with the West Mouth 

 picture : But in every case something new and special has appeared as 

 well — including some evidence for a small Neolithic "negritoid" popu- 

 lation living alongside larger people, but using separate burial caves 

 (there have been no negritos on the island in historic times). 



Most exciting of all is a beautiful cave 300 ft. up in a difficult cliff, 

 the whole back wall of which is painted with primitive designs in 

 scarlet hematite. The cave floor is littered with relics of late stone and 

 early iron age rituals for secondary burial (transference of bones) and 

 the journey of the dead, including quantities of early Chinese porce- 

 lain and other mainland imports. A separate monograph on this cave 

 is now under preparation. 



Tliis "Painted Cave'" showed no sign of having been visited by man 

 during several centuries. It is too high and light to contain either of 

 Niah's modern incentives for search — bat guano or edible nests. After 

 reconstructing, by excavation in association with the wall paintings, 

 a picture of what we think was going on there about a thousand and 

 more years ago, we found that some of the same ideas were present in 

 the folklore and custom of the Punans living at Niah today. They 

 themselves became so interested in this that, with the help of some of 

 the oldest men, we have been able to "revive" the old Punan death 

 rites for secondary burial to assist the spirits in the journey of the 

 dead. This clearly goes right back into the ancient past — and now 

 it can be shown in film. 



On the whole, the most striking impression gained from all this 

 work is of the highly advanced culture that was achieved as the stone 

 age proceeded in West Borneo. By the later Neolithic, say at 2,000 

 B.C., there were beautifully made polished tools, superb pottery dec- 

 orated in three colors, of which we now have reconstructed or whole 

 pieces and over 200,000 classified sherds. They had an elaboration of 

 shell, bone, and stone jewelry (including jade) ; mats, nets, and good 

 boats. They showed what could fairly be described as a love of the 

 dead, extending not only to exquisitely laid out primary burials, but 

 also to secondary burial and cremation, especially of babies — these long 

 predatmg the Hindu influence to which this custom had hitherto 

 been attributed in Southeast Asia.* They had a small domestic dog, 

 possibly a Neolithic lap dog rather than a hunter — as proved by bones 

 not only from Niah but from 400 miles away behind Kuching. This 

 dog features in folklore but is now extinct, completely swamped by 

 the only too familiar bigger "pye dog" of the East, which iself is related 

 to the Basenji breed of sophisticated dog breeders. 



This dynamic Neolithic undoubtedly extended far inland into the 

 central highlands; and along the coast even to tiny offshore islands. 



* For a fuller account of the growth and elaboration of contemporary death rites out of 

 the stone age, see "Borneo Death," Bijdragen, vol. 116. Leiden. 1962. 



