Pre-History of Borneo
During the height of the cold times during the Pleistocene (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago), all the land was connected and called Sundaland. The Malay Peninsula was connected to Borneo, Java and Sumatra. The water was locked up in ice in the north. The last time these areas were connected was 18,000 years ago.
During the Pleistocene there were warmer periods followed by cold periods where the water rose and fell. These were called interglacials.
During these periods, land bridges formed between the areas. Borneo, however, has a deeper trench between Malaya and land bridges and may not have formed as they did to Java and to Sumatra. Hence, Borneo was cut off as an island for longer periods of time.
One million years ago during one of these land bridge connections, Homo Erectus crossed into Java and perhaps into Borneo. There have been no fossils of his existence found in Borneo, perchance because the heavy jungle was not preferred by Homo Erectus. Another reason could be the acidic soil did not form fossils.
The true beginning of human occupation began in the Niah Caves. Stone tools, flakes from the making of those tools and other remnants have been uncovered. A skull dated to 38,000 years ago was also discovered. These prehistoric remains from Niah Cave seem to be on track to migrate to Australia and Papua New Guinea.
One site in Tingkayu Valley along the shores of an extinct lake have tools which date to 20,000 years ago. Another in Baturong date crude tools to 18,000 to 8,000 years ago.
One debate concerns whether people were able to live deep in the jungle prior to the development of agriculture. The three sites, Niah, Tingkayu and Baturong, were about 100 km from the sea about 18,000 years ago as determined by sea shells. Recent excavations at Gua Seri indicate a date of 20,000 years ago as also shown by shell fish. This could be because the climate was much dryer then and a plain developed between the sea and the caves while the rain forest was pushed further east.
There is still no record of people living in the centre of Borneo. The negrito people are absent from both Sumatra and Borneo despite their presence in north Malaya and Luzon. This demonstrates that perhaps they did not want to enter the dense rainforest.
All this would change with the Austronesian populations entering Borneo from the Philippines 4500 years ago bringing their agriculture traditions with them. The population would have doubled in size and the forests were cut down with the slash and burn system. From these agricultural pioneers would descend all the non Malay natives of the island.
The Austronesian language came from Taiwan and South China. From the linguistics we see the Austronesians spread throughout the region. All the languages are related to this migration.
The Austronesians probably entered Borneo through the Philippines. They brought with them pottery, stone adzes, raised floor houses and clothing of beaten bark. They tattooed themselves, used blow guns and sailed on out rigger canoes.
They domesticated pigs and chickens while raising crops of rice, millet, sugar cane, yams and tarro. As far as Borneo was concerned they populated the coastal areas and moved up the rivers with little resistance from sparse foraging populations.
The Neolithic era, where people engaged in pottery and weaving, settled in villages and relied on crops, date from 4500 to 2000 years ago. They were in Niah, the Gua Sireh area of Serian and the Lubang Augin area of the Gunung Mulu National Park.
In Niah and Lubang Augin they buried their dead in cave floors and seemed to live outside the caves. The Lubang Augin burials were wrapped in bark cloth and placed in simple graves. In the Niah caves there were extended burials in log shaped canoes or cigar shaped coffins. There were also secondary burials in jars.
The pottery included “three colours” with incised designs filled with black or red pigment. Stone adzes, shell beads, shell bracelets and bone ornaments also occur.
The pottery discovered in Bukit Tengkorack is remarkable similar to the Lapita pottery made by the Australians, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
By 2000 years ago major changes were to come to Borneo. Knowledge of bronze and iron metallurgy was to come from Vietnam, India and China.
Indian influence would appear in Samarinda, east Borneo, with the Sanskrit inscriptions of King Mulawarman in 400 A .D. Trade centres would appears at Santubong, Kota Batu in Brunei and other sites. The Malay expansion into Borneo would later take over the indigenous populations.
From
Guerreiro A. and Couderc P. Fils du Pleistocene in Borneo Paris: Serie Monde H.S. no. 52, 1991 translated by Peter Bellwood.
