The discovery of Bukit Jawa, Gelok, a middle-late Palaeolithic site in Perak, Malaysia
This short note by Zuraina Majid (Universiti Sains Malaysia) announces the discovery and emergency excavation of Bukit Jawa, a middle-late Palaeolithic tool workshop site in Gelok village, Perak, Malaysia, in 1996.
Summary
The site was identified during a 1990 survey of the Lenggong valley but was not excavated until late July 1996, when highway construction threatened its destruction. A six-week rescue excavation by USM produced an estimated 150,000–200,000 pieces of debitage and tools from 23 trenches (2 m × 2 m) at two locations (BJ1 and BJ2), excavated down to base rock in 10 cm spits (p. 49). The artifact deposit averaged 40–60 cm thick and was protected by a sterile overburden; the site is interpreted as a Palaeolithic tool workshop on the shores of a palaeolake, now dried up, with evidence of two Toba volcanic ash layers in the lake deposits (p. 50).
The lithic industry is characterised by large, crudely fashioned tools made primarily of quartz using anvil and hammerstone techniques, with a high proportion of discarded pieces reflecting trial and error. The tools are described as proto-types of those at Kota Tampan, being larger and less refined, and are reminiscent of Middle Palaeolithic forms. Based on terrace formation, tool morphology, and sedimentation rates, the site is tentatively dated to between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, predating Kota Tampan (p. 51).