17,000 years old artefacts found in Malaysian caves

The National Heritage Department has found more than 100 Palaeolithic artefacts estimated to be 17,000 years old in several caves in Gunung Pulai here.

The artefacts include stone tools, fragments of pottery and river snails
[Credit: Bernama]

Artefacts in the form of stone tools, fragments of pottery and river snails were found at new excavation sites including Gua Kelambu, Gua Tembus and Gua Akar in the mountain.

National Heritage Department director-general Mesran Mohd Yusop, who is also the Heritage Commissioner, said the artefacts were discovered while his department was conducting explorations in the area between April and October last year.

"The exploration was to carry out documentation and inventory of the site to obtain the latest archaeological data and to identify any possible evidence that has not been discovered by previous researchers.

"The discovery of the artefacts proves the existence of prehistoric life in this area and gives us new clues about the lives of these early inhabitants," he told local reporters.

National Heritage Department Archaeological Division director Ruzairy Arbi
in the caves on Gunung Pulai in Baling [Credit: Bernama]

Mesran said excavations and research at the site were also joined by the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (Atma), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya's (UM) Geology Department.

He said some of the artefacts found were sent to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for analysis and to determine their age.

According to him, if the artefacts are truly 17,000 years old, it means that the settlement on Gunung Pulai is among the oldest in the country and is older than the Sungai Batu archaeological site in Merbok.

He also explained that the discovery made Gunung Pulai a valuable archaeological site for the country's archaeological data and as a basis for recognising the origins of the ancient community.

Some of the artefacts discovered in the caves on Gunung Pulai in Baling
[Credit: Bernama]

"It also has the potential to make the area famous and make Gunung Pulai and its caves a focal point for tourists, researchers and archaeologists," he said.

Meanwhile, the department's Archaeological Division director Ruzairy Arbi said the discovery of stone tools showed that the Palaeolithic community here used rock extensively for hunting and food storage purposes.

However, the discovery of river limpets is considered to be most important as it is evidence of dietary practices of prehistoric peoples there.

"All of these artefacts were found on the ground of the caves and we believe more artefacts are buried and we will be mapping and digging within the next month to find other artefacts," he said.

In the meantime, the department is advising the public to comply with the National Heritage Act 2005 by reporting immediately any historic findings in the Gunung Pulai area to the district officer or Heritage Commissioner.

Source: Bernama [January 23, 2020]

Preparing land for palm oil causes most climate damage

New research has found preparing land for palm oil plantations and the growth of young plants causes significantly more damage to the environment, emitting double the amount of greenhouse gases than mature plantations.

Peat swamp deforestation and drainage for new oil palm plantations in North Selangor
Peat Swamp Forest, Malaysia [Credit: Stephanie Evers]

This is the first study to examine the three main greenhouse gas emissions across the different age stages of palm oil plantations. It was carried out by plant scientists from the University of Nottingham in the North Selangor peat swamp forest in Malaysia with support from the Salangor State Forestry Department. It has been published in Nature Communications.

Palm oil is the most consumed and widely traded vegetable oil in the world. Global demand has more than tripled in the last eighteen years, from around 20 million tonnes in 2000 to over 70 million in 2018 and Malaysia is the world's second largest producer. The University of Nottingham researchers analysed five sites at four different stages of land use: secondary forest, recently drained but uncleared forest, cleared and recently planted young oil palm plantation and mature oil palm plantation.

Laboratory analysis of soil and gas from these sites showed that the greatest fluxes of CO2 occurred during the drainage and young oil palm stages with 50% more greenhouse gas emissions than the mature oil palms. These emissions also account for almost a quarter of the total greenhouse emissions for the region.

Tropical peat swamp forests hold around 20% of global peatland carbon. However, the contribution of peat swamp forests to carbon storage is currently under threat from large-scale expansion of drainage-based agriculture including oil palm and pulp wood production on peatlands.

Draining peatlands increases the oxygen levels in the soil, which in turn increases the rate of decomposition of organic material, resulting in high CO2 emissions from drained peatlands. In addition to CO2, peatlands also emit the powerful greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O8)..

Dr Sofie Sjogersten from the University of Nottingham's School of Biosciences led the research and said: "Tropical peat swamps have historically been avoided by palm oil growers due to the amount of preparation and drainage the land needs, but as land becomes more scarce there has been an increased demand to convert sites and the periphery of North Selangor is being heavily encroached upon by palm oil plantations. Our research shows that this conversion comes at a heavy cost to the environment with greater carbon and greenhouse gas emissions being caused by the early stages of the growth of palm oil."

Source: University of Nottingham [January 21, 2020]