via Borneo Post, 30 July 2024: Niah Caves’ recent Unesco World Heritage Site designation is expected to attract historians and academics for in-depth research, highlighting the site’s 50,000-year-old human interaction records. Deputy Minister Datuk Rosey Yunus emphasized the importance of the site’s rich archaeological finds and its global significance in understanding human development and migration. This recognition is also anticipated to boost tourism and benefit the local economy.
Malaysia’s latest Unesco World Heritage Site, Niah Caves, would draw more historians and academia wanting to carry out in-depth research works, says Datuk Rosey Yunus.
According to the description by Unesco, the cave complex contains the longest known records of human interactions with rainforests, spanning at least 50,000 years, from the Pleistocene to the Mid-Holocene periods.
In this regard, the Deputy Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Sarawak and Bekenu assemblywoman remarked: “The rich archaeological artefacts and deposits, prehistoric rock paintings, and boat-shaped burials found at the northern edge of the massif illustrate biological and human life during that time, and this contribute greatly to the knowledge of human development, adaptation and migration in Southeast Asia, as well as in a global context.
Source: Unesco heritage site set to draw more researchers to Niah, says deputy minister