The drive from Taiping to the Lenggong Valley takes about one hour and passes through some beautiful countryside with lush green hills on all sides. Although the state of Kedah is popularly thought to have the oldest archeological remains in peninsular Malaysia, with history stretching back some 1,500 years, here in the caves of the Lenggong Valley is evidence of habitation some 75,000 years ago. And now there is evidence from a nearby workshop site (Bukit Jawa) dating some 200,000 years ago. And, according to UNESCO World Heritage List, there are four archeological sites in two clusters which span close to two million years, making it one of the longest records of early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent. There is so much history to learn about this region, along with their descendants (the Land Negritos) who are still found in Perak, but I want to focus here on Perak Man.
The Lenggong Valley Archeological Site was awarded its World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2012, and there is a whole floor in the museum devoted to this occasion. But I have read that this status is at risk because the historic sites are not being well maintained. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has travelled around Malaysia; maintenance of anything comes low on official things-to-do lists! Even the museum felt abandoned, and there were only two other visitors while we were there. So, if you are staying in Ipoh or Taiping, please do make an effort to come and visit the museum and show the authorities that people are interested in the history of the country. I’m not sure if you can access any of the caves today, and that would involve quite a hike, but there is plenty to learn first from the museum. There are a few photos in the museum of rock art found in these caves.
Perak Man is the best preserved, most entire ancient human skeleton found in the Southeast Asia region, and he has a display room all to himself! This room has clearly been curated by professionals; the information panels around the walls are clear and concise, everything has a purpose; even the carpet shows how the land mass of Malaysia was connected to other lands in the region and was not separated by the sea. And there, at the top of the ramp, is Perak Man in a glass case. So the mere fact of walking up to the case gives one a sense of the importance of this set of bones.
Perak Man was discovered within the Gua Gunung Runtuh cave in 1971, and he has been identified as Australomelanesoid. And this is what Perak Man looks like today...
You will see from this artist’s interpretation below that he is deformed; he had a congenital deformity known as Brachymesophalangia Type A2. When combined with the information that he was 40 - 45 years old, which would have been considered very very old in those days, it suggests that he must have been well looked after and probably considered very special. Besides, he was the only person in this burial site, and he was buried with foods and artefacts. He was also buried in a foetal position with his legs folded up over his body, which is why he looks more like a pile of bones, than a human skeleton, today.
Researchers discovered that he had a very large jaw abscess, which must have been quite painful, and it was probably the resulting systemic inflammation that killed him as there were no signs of a violent death. It is incredible what one can deduce from careful examination of a pile of bones!
At the back of the museum was a garden with steps leading up to a watch tower which would have given a great view across the valley. Sadly the tower was closed and I don’t think this was just because of the coronavirus-related restrictions. At the top of the steps are bolders with geological information.
Finally, we left this fascinating site and headed to Kuala Kangsar.
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