Origin of Southeast Asian - Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley 1396; Silat 01504
What and Why
Lenggong is one of the most important sites in archaeology as excavations have revealed many important information about Southeast Asian prehistory. The discovery of the Perak Man (Malay: orang Perak) in the region also sparked extreme interest and new knowledges about the evolution of modern human or anatomically modern humans (AMH), the earlier version of homo sapiens.
As in the above picture, Asian AMH were largely defined by the Peking Man, Java Man and Florensiensis, all at similar time frame of 750,000 years ago. The Perak Man opens an entirely new branch of human species at a relatively age group of 10,000 to 30,000 years ago and shows that Malaysia is an archaeologically distinct region with a young prehistory.
Toponymy
The etymology of Lenggong is untraceable. Perak means silver in Malay and is the name of the state, referring it to its history of a former tin and silver mine.
See
Lenggong Archeological Museum (Muzium Arkeologi Lenggong)
All the artefacts excavated from the valley are expertly exhibited in the Lenggong Archeological Museum (Muzium Arkeologi Lenggong). The highlight of the museum is clearly the skeleton of the Perak Man, which naturally is very well preserved.
The set of skeleton was found at Gua Gunung Runtuh (meaning a collapsed cave) in Malaysia in the state of Perak in 1991 CE. The cave was apparently his tomb situated in Bukit Kepala Gajah (meaning Elephant's Head Hill) in the Lenggong Valley, which is around 100 km away from the museum. The skeleton was a male with a height of approximately 157 cm, aged 50s and has been dated to around 11,000 years old and is a very complete skeletons for this time period in this region. In 2004 CE, another skeleton was found at Gua Teluk Kelawar in Lenggong by a team of University of Science Malaysia (Universiti Sains Malaysia) archaeologists. This time it is a 'Perak woman' of 148 cm in height and was believed to aged 40s.
The Perak Man was buried in the foetal position, with deposits of animal bones at his right shoulder, to his left and to his bottom, and stone tools around the body. There were no other burials in the cave. A peculiarity of the Perak Man is that he had a malformed left arm: his left arm and hand were much smaller compared to his right arm and hand. This deformity could be from a genetic disorder known as brachymesophalangia. This evidence is further supported by the fact that his spine is curved towards the right due to living with only one good hand.
One conclusion that the study made was that he must have been an important or respected member in the community because the burial was very elaborate and labour intensive. The Perak Man was put into the tomb with food offerings, and then covered him with shells, and then covered with more layers of offerings, tools, and shells, followed by a final dirt layer. Furthermore, he was 45 years old which was very old for a disabled person from that era. People had to take care of him – and people would not take it upon themselves unless he was respected or highly ranked in some sort of social hierarchy.
The cave was decorated like the actual Gua Gunung Runtuh.
The site of Lenggong shows that the prehistory of the region is rich, but young. Stone tools and a tool workshop was found in the region and dates back to 75,000 years old, compared to 300,000 of Java Man and Peking Man. Some of the tools, like axes are found to be the oldest in history outside Africa. All the archaeological remains found in Lenggong have been associated with caves.
Bukit Kepala Gajah
The actual cave Gua Gunung Runtuh is actually situated in Bukit Kepala Gajah at 100 km north of the museum. The road along the way shows a lush rainforest, but nothing particularly interesting to see. The actual cave is out of bounds, for obvious reasons.
Along the way there were some caves, like Gua Badak (rhinoceros cave) that contain some cave drawings. Scientific examinations show that these drawings are only around 100 something years old and were made by a tribe called the Negrito. Negrito means little black people in Spanish and this tells the size of the these aboriginal people.
Buy and Do
Silat
During the visit of the museum, there was a social gathering nearby where there was a mass demonstration of the traditional Malay martial art silat. As a matter of fact the first time I watched was during the Southeast Asian Games, when it is listed as a full sport.
Silat has a very long history, and is documented to have originated during the 8th century CE during the in Langkasuka regime. The word silat has multiple theories of its etymology, but the most accepted theory is that the word comes from the Malay word sekilat meaning 'like lightning'.
Silat is in a way similar to Chinese wushu (Chinese: 武术), where there is both the hand-to-hand combat or the use of weaponry. The forms of silat are mostly inspired and named after movements of human anatomy, nature and animals.
Clearly silat is no longer practised as a combat form, but is more like a physical exercise or a performance sports. More importantly it serves as a form of tradition perpetuation amongst the Malay. Communal training sessions usually take place in the evening or at night in an open space such as a courtyard, led by the master (jurukaka), and is seen as a major cultural heritage in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
Eat and Drink
Ipoh chicken (Ayam Ipoh)
Lenggong is close to the important Malaysian city of Ipoh, which has a very large Cantonese population. One of the most famous dishes of Ipoh is the Ipoh chicken, which is no more than steamed chicken served with local beansprouts, usually comes with Cantonese rice noodles. This dish is found almost everywhere in Ipoh and Lenggong.
Pekasam
One local delicacy from freshwater fish is pekasam, which is a fermented freshwater fish marinated in salt and toasted rice. It does come with a strong taste and smell.
Getting There and Around
Other than driving, there is no way you can reach the site. It is easily reached from Ipoh after 30-minute drive. The museum is free for entry.
UNESCO Inscriptions
Situated in the lush Lenggong Valley, the property includes four archaeological sites in two clusters which span close to 2 million years, one of the longest records of early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent. It features open-air and cave sites with Palaeolithic tool workshops, evidence of early technology. The number of sites found in the relatively contained area suggests the presence of a fairly large, semi-sedentary population with cultural remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.
Silat is a combative art of self-defence and survival rooted in the Malay Archipelago. Traced back to the early days of the Langkasuka Kingdom, Silat has evolved into a fine practice of physical and spiritual training also encompassing traditional Malay attire, Silat musical instruments and customs. There are many styles of Silat, inspired by the movements of human anatomy, nature and animals. For example, Silat Harimau involves an aesthetic rhythmic motion imitating the art of self-defence and attack of the tiger. In Malaysia alone, there are more than 150 known Silat styles whose names derive from natural elements such as animals and plants. Originally, Malay Silat was practised by warriors – as noble enforcers of justice – but nowadays practitioners consist of masters, gurus, teachers and students, who are responsible for maintaining the practice. Training sessions usually take place in the evening or at night in an open space such as a courtyard, led by the Master and ‘Jurukaka’. A large number of practitioners have been trained and nurtured, and an increasing number of training centres have been established in various regions. With this accelerated dissemination, the practice has increasingly transcended its status as a martial art to become a performing art; consequently, it is now a popular sport for health and leisure.
References
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