UV-fluorescence microscopy and the coherence of pollen assemblages in environmental archaeology and Quaternary geology

UV-fluorescence microscopy provides a powerful tool for the assessment of the coherence of pollen and organic-walled microfossil assemblages in situations where recycling or the intrusion of younger pollen is suspected. It also provides sensitive information about the thermal maturity of pollen, important for assessing whether material has been heated. Examples are given from the Palaeolithic sites at Barnham, Suffolk, UK; Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, UK; High Lodge, Suffolk, UK; Niah Cave, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo; and Holocene sites at Wadi Dana, Jordan; Milldale and Creswell, Derbyshire, UK; and Dooncarton Mountain, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland.

A Zoologist with a Taste for the Past: The Earl of Cranbrook’s Contribution to Zooarchaeological Research in Southeast Asia

The Earl of Cranbrook (V) (then Lord Medway) was fi rst introduced to archaeological research in 1958 when he participated in excavations at the Niah Caves, Sarawak Borneo. In that same year he published a paper entitled ‘Food bone in Niah Cave excavations (-1958)’ in the Sarawak Museum Journal. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his individual and intuitive research was on a par with, if not methodologically ahead of, burgeoning studies in the fi eld of zooarchaeology that were taking place at leading academic institutions in Europe and the United States. This paper recounts and lauds the signifi cant contributions the Earl of Cranbrook has made to the establishment and furtherance of a discipline over more than 50 years. 

Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest:Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus, Niah Caves, Sarawak

The Terminal Pleistocene zooarchaeological evidence from Lobang Hangus, an east-facing entrance to the Niah Cave complex, provides unique insights into the hunting habits of the human inhabitants of this cave. The composition and structure of the vertebrate accumulation indicates that a variety of locally available terrestrial, arboreal and aquatic taxa were being exploited, The age structure of the principal predated species, the presence of bone points and evidence from modern rainforest hunting combine to suggest that some form of projectile weaponry as well as trapping technologies were probably being employed by the hunters at Niah before the end of the Pleistocene. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Zooarchaeology at the Niah Caves, Sarawak:Context and Research Issues INTRODUCTION

Extensive archaeological excavations in the Niah Caves (Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo) over the past 50 years have produced perhaps 750 000 fragments of vertebrate bone, one of the largest faunal assemblages in the region, This paper introduces a series of research studies examining different aspects of the Niah fauna, and discusses how they are contributing to, and shaping, regional research agendas relating to prehistoric environments and societies in Island Southeast Asia. Zooarchaeology has traditionally had a rather 'Cinderella' status here, but the ongoing programme of study of the Niah Caves fauna is demonstrating the remarkable potential of this material to address questions of Pleistocene and Holocene climate and environment, biodiversity, human activities within caves, people's engagement with the landscapes they inhabited as foragers and farmers, and the nature of the transition from foraging to farming. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Distinguishing Species of Geoemyclid and Trionychid Turtles from Shell Fragments:Evidence from the Pleistocene at Niah Caves, Sarawak

Fragments of chelonian carapace and plastral dermal plates are well-represented from archaeological sites in the world's dry and wet tropics. However, although these bones are easily identified at an element level, few archaeological reports have explored the potential of using features of form and surface sculpturing as a way to refine that identification to genus or species. The ability to achieve such a refinement would benefit environmental and human subsistence strategy models alike. The objective of the current paper was to isolate recurrent and readily visible surface characteristics on the dermal plates from a selection of commonly occurring Southeast Asian hard- and soft-shelled turtles. Using these criteria, analysis is made of the chelonian assemblage from pre- and post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) cultural deposits in the West Mouth of Niah Cave. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Disentangling the Harrisson Archive to Interpret the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Vertebrate Remains at Niah Caves, Sarawak

During the 1950s and 1960s, excavations by the Sarawak Museum at Niah Cave in northwest Borneo produced an enormous archive of records and artefacts, including in excess of 750,000 macro- and micro-vertebrate remains. The excellent state of preservation of the animal bone, dating from the Late Pleistocene (c. 40 kya) to as recently as c. 500 years ago had the potential to provide unparalleled zooarchaeological information about early hunter-gatherer resource procurement, temporal changes in subsistence patterning, and the impact of peoples on the local and regional environment in Island Southeast Asia. However, the coarse-grained methods of excavation employed during the original investigations and the sheer scale of the archaeological record and bone assemblages dissuaded many researchers from attempting to tackle the Niah archives. This paper outlines how important information on the nature of the archaeological record at Niah has now finally been extracted from the archive using a combination of zooarchaeological analysis and reference to the extensive archaeological records from the site. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prehistoric foragers and farmers in south-east Asia:Renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak

The paper describes the initial results from renewed investigations at Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 of the c. 40,000-year old 'Deep Skull'. The archaeological sequences from the West Mouth and the other entrances of the cave complex investigated by Tom and Barbara Harrisson and other researchers have potential implications for three major debates regarding the prehistory of south-east Asia: the timing of initial settlement by anatomically modern humans; the means by which they subsisted in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene; and the timing, nature, and causation of the transition from foraging to farming. The new project is informing on all three debates. The critical importance of the Niah stratigraphies was commonly identified - including by Tom Harrisson himself - as because the site provided a continuous sequence of occupation over the past 40,000 years. The present project indicates that Niah was first used at least 45,000 years ago, and probably earlier; that the subsequent Pleistocene and Holocene occupations were highly variable in intensity and character; and that in some periods, perhaps of significant duration, the caves may have been more or less abandoned. The cultural sequence that is emerging from the new investigations may be more typical of cave use in tropical rainforests in south-east Asia than the Harrisson model.