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