Nov 2001 Newsletter

Prehistoric Rock Paintings at Gunung Panjang
About   20   participants  came  for  the trip. At Ipoh Garden Plaza, we spent about an  hour  for  the  rocks  (marble,  quartz  and  granite)  and  mineral (hematite)   identification   exercises  and briefing on the geology and archeological significance of Gunung Panjang.  The  identification  and  the understanding of the mode of formation of these  rocks  were  perquisite  to the appreciation of the geology at the site. Hematite, which was mineralized in the marble massif, was used by prehistoric people  as  a  pigment  for  the rock paintings.

We spent some time at what was formerly an iron mine to look for some hematite remnants. As we were combing the ground we made an interesting discovery. We had noted that there were broken pieces of shale slabs among the subangular and subrounded hematite pebbles and cobbles. The occurrence of this shale slabs was not a surprise however as they are known to occur in several localities with the limestone formation of the Kinta Valley.

The finale of the excursion was the visit to the rock paintings of Gunung Panjang. There are more than 30 images depicted on the limestone cliff. These include men hunting for wild boar/gaur/serow, tapir (or rhinoceros beetle – with 3 pairs of legs), deer (one has a small fawn inside her belly), aquatic animal (possibly a sea cow), tortoise, dancing man, outline figures of leafy head dresses, abstract designs and lines of dots. These drawings were the expressions of experience, belief, environments and the culture of prehistoric people at that time.

We were surprised to realize that there were at least two different styles of rock paintings being depicted – solidly coloured images and images drawn in concentric lines. Mr Chong Fong Loon (one of the participants) noted that the latter style (X-rayed painting) strongly resembles the Australian rock art.

Basing on another occurrence of hematite rock painting in Gua Niah, Sarawak, Museum Negara had come up with an age of 5,000 years ago for the rock paintings at Gunung Panjang. However, the resemblance of the X-rayed painting of the deer to that of the Australian rock art would indicate the age of the paintings in the order of 30,000 to 50,000 years ago!

On geological point of view it is not impossible to come up with that order of ages. Considering the floor of the cliff to be at the level of the rock-painting gallery (about 50 meters from ground level) and the denundation rate to be 1mm/year (for Kinta Valley) one would come up with an age as high as 50,000 years ago. If this were true the finding would be of great significance in studying the migration route of prehistoric people from mainland Asia to Australia.

Ramli Mohd Osman


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Created on 26 Nov 2001