The Pottery Technology from Bukit Tengkorak, a 3000–5000 Year Old Site in Borneo, Malaysia

Abstract

Bukit Tengkorak (Scull Hill) is a Neolithic period rock shelter complex and prehistoric pottery production site in southeastern Sabah, about 5 miles southwest of Semporna in Borneo, Malaysia at GPS N 4 7 20.08 and E 118 37 04.3. It was excavated for a 5-week season in 1995 and another in 1994 by a joint University of Science and Sabah Museum team under the direction of S. Chia. Two areas with volcanic outcrops about 10 meters apart were excavated. A total of 6 one-meter squares, three in each area, were excavated in 5 cm layers. The three rock shelter trenches, G17, G19 and J19, were excavated to the base of undisturbed cultural deposits, about one and one half meters deep. The main archaeological materials excavated from these squares comprised pottery sherds, stone tools, molluscs and fish and animal bones. Thick layers of ash, measuring 50 to 80 cm, were associated with the pottery sherds in the three rock shelter squares, suggesting that they could have been the remnant of an open pit kiln or pit kilns used for firing the pottery. In the lower outcrop, the three trenches R13, S37 and T38, were excavated near earlier archaeological excavation by Bellwood (1). Our excavation in this area revealed large deposits of clays not found elsewhere in this locale that were probably brought to the shelter to be used as raw material for making pottery. No food remains such as animal and fish bones or unworked shells were found in this area, leading credence to the interpretation of this as a craft working area for the production of pottery and stone and shell tools.