Protecting Malaysia's heritage
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By Marina Emmanuel New Straits Times 9 February, 2004
Malaysia’s first archaeologist, Professor Datuk Zuraina Majid,
who made an impact on the world archaeology scene by proving that homo sapiens lived in Kota Tampan, Perak over 74,000 years ago, is set to raise the country’s archaeological profile again, through her intriguing tale of the earliest Malaysians. She got the world's attention and placed Malaysia on the global archaeology map by discovering the trail or "missing piece of the jigsaw" in the spread of man from mainland Southeast Asia to Java and Australia.
Her research proves that early man, homo erectus, passed through Bukit Jawa about 200,000 years ago while homo sapiens occupied Kota Tampan 74,000 years ago, making Ulu Perak the "bridge" in the spread of man to Australia (he reached there 60,000 years ago) and beyond.
Universiti Sains Malaysia Professor Datuk Zuraina Majid also ruffled many a feather in quashing a previously held belief that the region was the "backwaters of civilisation". Her excavations proved it otherwise.
She also revised earlier findings in several areas of Malaysian pre-history with an impact on Southeast Asia.
Her research has also shown that Ulu Perak was one of the few populated areas in Southeast Asia during the middle and late Pleistocene epoch.
For a person who lists snakes as her "greatest phobia", it is quite difficult to imagine this mother of two, who is immaculately groomed with her pearls, designer handbag and pumps, dirtying her hands and roughing it out for weeks on end in the deep jungles of the country.
"Discoveries of grand tombs and gold jewellery, unravelling mummies and mysteries of lost civilisations plus fictionalised archaeo-logists like Indiana Jones have all contri-buted to creating the romantic world of archaeology," says Zuraina.
Although a certain aura of romance can be attached to discovery, Kuala Lumpur-born Zuraina points to the fact that archaeology is mainly about "sweat, dust and rigorous scientific discipline".
"Archaeological research," she points out, "also carries with it tremendous responsibility as not only is the cost of excavation as high as its risk factor, but also because the resulting interpretations seep deep into a nation's memory." And this, she says, is why it is important that the evidence is indisputable. When she began her career over three decades ago, archaeology was not a career option for anyone.
Zuraina herself concedes that the field was not exactly her vocation of choice, until she began studying Chinese archaeology as an undergraduate at University of Malaya.
She proceeded with her postgraduate studies under eminent Chinese archaeologists in Cambridge (Cheng Te-k'un) and Yale (K.C. Chang) whom she credits as profound mentors. Armed with a PhD in Malaysia in archaeology in the 1970s, the only person with such a qualification at that time, Zuraina made it her goal to develop the field so that Malaysia "would no longer be regarded as a laggard" in archaeology.
"First," she recalls, "I had to do really good research to obtain grants, build public confidence and gain public interest.
"Next was to train the next generation of archaeologists so it can never be said that we in Malaysia do not have archaeologists of international standing." Zuraina's dogged desire to prove the Malaysia Boleh spirit was because of the presence of foreign researchers in Malaysia who had given every indication that they were "clearly intending to stay".
"They were excavating our heritage and I had seen tonnes of artefacts from the region being sent abroad, all resulting in us being poorer in our heritage," she recalls.
The fact that "they" were controlling their local counterparts who were not welltrained was what drove Zuraina to prove that Malaysians should and would not be content with remaining "second best".
In her soon-to-be-launched coffee-table book Archaeology in Malaysia, she pens: "Archaeology would not have grown into the force it now is without the foresignt of an exceptional leader who laid the foundation for its development by making it possible for Malaysians to establish a presence in this field." That exceptional leader is none other than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who in 1977 was a senior official at the then Culture, Youth and Sports Ministry.
"How apt that several decades later, Datuk Seri honoured USM by consenting to open the Centre for Archaeo-logical Research Malay-sia (Carm)," she says.
The work carried out by the centre over the past 16 years is the basis for Zuraina's book which highlights Malaysian pre-history.
The earliest known appearance of humans to the beginning of the historical era is derived from the centre's long and sustained research in the Lenggong Valley in Ulu Perak and detailed in laymen's language in the 208-page book.
"As the site of the oldest settlement so far discovered in Malaysia," says Zuraina, "this remarkable valley has revealed evidence spanning about 200,000 years of human habitation.
"The story of how we discovered this ‘golden valley' and what it ultimately re-vealed, together with accounts of our work in Sabah and Sarawak unfolds in the pages of the book." The book, written in English and Bahasa Malaysia, is an effort to bring to the public what has been written about Malaysian archaeology previously for the academic world.
The remarkable photographs and the telling captions in the book, make it a pleasurable journey, even for the lay person to gain an insight into the world of archaelogy.
In response to a query on what is so fascinating about archaeology, Zuraina says: "It offers an interesting juxtaposition of time - where the latest scientific techniques are applied to ancient specimens, in order for us today to have a knowledge of our past. "Archaeology is almost like time travel in reverse. "I try to push out the boundaries of knowledge - and I do it backwards. One step backwards and that's progress... which other job allows you to do that?" Malaysian archaeology, says Zuraina, has now "come of age", with new discoveries contributing to our understanding of the past.
"Despite this, though, there are still those who question the use of archaeology," she laments.
"Some critics complain that it does not help in the Government's aim to develop science and technology, that it is a luxury that a developing country cannot afford. "However, if we allow this narrow view to gain currency, we are responsible for disseminating a mistaken belief that mankind's past - the legacy of two million years of existence on earth - is unimportant."
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World Islamic Tourism Mart / Malaysia
WITM 2012 InCoMTHU Conference will feature quality and world renown speakers not only from Malaysia but from around the globe. In its 6th Year, the WITM InCoMTHU Conference 2012 will have speakers fro (16/05/2012)
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