THE upcoming World Heritage Committee conference will decide on Sarawak’s application for the Niah National Park to be listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hamzah told the assembly today.
The Sarawak tourism, creative industry and performing arts minister told the assembly that the state government made applications in 2010 and again in 2021.
He noted that one of the caves in the park in northern Sarawak near the oil town of Miri is an important prehistoric site where human remains from 40,000 years ago have been found.
Karim told the assembly that the nomination under the cultural heritage category “has progressed significantly” and was hopeful it will be accepted at the conference this July in New Delhi, India. He said there is a prevailing sense of optimism that the Niah Caves “will secure this prestigious designation”.
If it does, it will follow in the footsteps of Gunung Mulu National Park, he added.
Karim said the listing would further boost tourism in the region.
Recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from between 46,000 to 34,000 years ago.
One of the caves, named the Painted Cave, has prehistoric rock paintings dating 1,200 years old.
Items found at the Niah Cave by archaeologists in a series of digs from 1864 include Pleistocene – the Ice Age some 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, chopping tools and flakes, Neolithic axes, adzes, pottery, shell jewellery, boats, mats, then iron tools, ceramics and glass beads dating to the Iron Age.
The most famous find is the human skull dated at around 38,000 years BCE (Before Common Era). – May 14, 2024.
