• The study was funded by the Australian Research Council and Griffith University.

Researchers from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, in partnership with The Sarawak Museum Department, have become the first to date drawings of Gua Sireh Cave in Sarawak, uncovering a sad story of conflict in the process.

The renowned Gua Sireh limestone cave, located in western Sarawak on the island of Borneo in Malaysia, boasts numerous charcoal drawings on its chamber walls, drawing hundreds of visitors annually.

Approximately 55km 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.

“We wanted to confirm the images were drawn with charcoal, as there are a limited number of substances you can actually radiocarbon date,” she said.

“We were looking at the decay isotopes of carbon, which meant the material had to be carbon-bearing, and our analyses (with collaborator Dr Emilie Dotte-Sarout at the University of Western Australia) determined charcoal from different species of bamboo had been used. Being drawn on limestone, they’re remarkably well preserved.”

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.

“We wanted to confirm the images were drawn with charcoal, as there are a limited number of substances you can actually radiocarbon date,” she said.

“We were looking at the decay isotopes of carbon, which meant the material had to be carbon-bearing, and our analyses (with collaborator Dr Emilie Dotte-Sarout at the University of Western Australia) determined charcoal from different species of bamboo had been used. Being drawn on limestone, they’re remarkably well preserved.”

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.

“We wanted to confirm the images were drawn with charcoal, as there are a limited number of substances you can actually radiocarbon date,” she said.

“We were looking at the decay isotopes of carbon, which meant the material had to be carbon-bearing, and our analyses (with collaborator Dr Emilie Dotte-Sarout at the University of Western Australia) determined charcoal from different species of bamboo had been used. Being drawn on limestone, they’re remarkably well preserved.”

Bidayuh descendant and curator at The Sarawak Museum Department Mr. Mohammad Sherman Sauffi William said understanding of the dates had been informed by the oral histories of the Bidayuh who have continuing custodial responsibilities over the site today.

“The Bidayuh recall Gua Sireh’s use as a refuge during territorial violence in the early 1800s when a very harsh Malay Chief had demanded they hand over their children,” he said.

“They refused and retreated to Gua Sireh, where they initially held off a force of 300 armed men trying to enter the cave from the valley about 60 meters below.

“Suffering some losses (two Bidayuh were shot and seven taken prisoner/enslaved), they saved their children when most of the tribe escaped through a passageway at the back of the largest entrance chamber which leads hundreds of meters through the Gunung Nambi limestone hill.

“The figures were drawn holding distinctive weapons such as a Pandat which was used exclusively for fighting or protection, as well two short-bladed Parang Ilang, the main weapons used during warfare that marked the first decades of white rule in Borneo.” – Griffith University