The Painted Cave: Where Ancient Walls Demand Attention

By Rachel Yeoh

August 2025 FOR ART'S SAKE
Advertisement

“ADA BUAYA TAK?”[1] my travel companion casually asked the boatman. “Eh, jangan panggil nama dia. Nanti dia akan timbul,”[2] he hushed.

After a one-minute ride to get across the teh tarik-hued river, the journey to catch a glimpse of the 1,200-year-old cave drawings at what is known as Painted Cave, originally known as Kain Hitam Cave, began. However, I did not expect to journey 2.8km on a slippery boardwalk (it rained the day before) before reaching Trader’s Cave, the first in the network of caves I wanted to explore. Painted Cave is part of the Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s cave complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed on 31 July 2024.

Trader’s Cave is a beauty—it made me feel like I just marched into the fortress city of Minas Tirith with giant columns lined at its mouth. After ambling and taking photos over the 200m stretch, we exited, only to be swallowed by the Great Cave.

Guano-filled, its odour punched my olfactory system. I had to take in small, shallow breaths to adapt. Visually, this cave is quite magnificent. The expansive opening measures 122m wide and 60m high.[3] It was here that Tom Harrisson and his team found the earliest definite representative of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia—a human skull that carbon dated back to approximately 40,000 years.[4]

I trudged through the Great Cave for another 45 minutes, taking photos of the breathtaking skylights punctuating the darkness of the cave, before plunging in deeper into the blackness and exiting through Gan Kira.

After several minutes back on the boardwalk, and with the sun’s rays pounding down on us, we hiked up a few flights of stairs to reach the Painted Cave—4.1km from the point where we started.

Journey to the Afterlife

When I visited Borneo Cultures Museum two years back, I was specifically enthralled by how the different Borneo ethnic groups conducted funerary rites and buried the dead—from using totem poles to crocodile-shaped coffins. While these are documented, the “death ships”[5] found in Gua Niah’s Painted Cave are not textually chronicled; they are explicitly depicted through more than 100 images consisting of boats, horned animals and dancing stick figures across a wall stretching approximately 50m.

Its discovery by Barbara Harrisson (Tom’s wife) in 1958 led to an excavation process that began in 1959 and continued in 1961. Scattered alongside the “death ships” are bones, beads, porcelain and stoneware sherds.

When studying material culture, particularly the remains of the deceased, Mohammad Sherman Sauffi, an archaeologist involved with research in Gua Niah, said that archaeologists will meticulously extract clues about past human life, grounding their interpretations in concrete hypotheses and evidence. His contemporaries Junior Kimwah, Jumin Jusilin and Zaimie Sahibil explained that the cave paintings show us a glimpse into their daily activities, and the recurring boat icons make it seem like they are carrying the human stick figures through the “voyage of life” before they reach their final place of rest. Others believe that the images demonstrate the journey of the souls of the dead via boats to the land of the dead.[6] The Harrissons believed that these “death ships” are “symbolic receptacles for bodies, facilitating the soul’s transition to the afterlife”. Once the soul is successfully “transported” to the afterlife, these vessels made from Borneo Ironwood (also known as Pokok Belian)—one of the hardest and most durable type of wood on the island—are reused again and again, probably over 1,000 years.

The elaborate paintings in striking rusty red are believed to be made from the bark of Pterocarpus indicus Willd (I did a quick Google search, it tells me that it’s actually Pokok Angsana—yes, the large tree with buttress roots and small yellow flowers that shade Penang’s major roads). To the untrained eye, the cave art looks like dozens of figurines dancing around many bonfires; but after some “archaeological” and “artistic” guidance, you’ll start spotting boats with “trees of life”, human-like figures and recognisable animals like crocodiles, snails and turtles. These paintings are of the Hoabinhian-style, attributed to hunter-gatherer societies within the East and Southeast Asian regions.

In another study, Kimwah along with Salbiah Kindoyop and Ismail Ibrahim isolated and scrutinised these figures. Three types were identified. The most obvious are the “death ships”; then there is the type linked to another set of motifs—human-like figures with open arms believed to mirror the death rituals practised at that time. Then, there are highly-stylised, almost-dancing anthropomorphic beings seen outside those “death ships”.

Could they be spirits leading the souls of the deceased safely into the afterlife? Alas, we will never know.

Ephemeral

“We’re here, at last!” I cried. It was past noon and lunch was out of the question. One last step on the final flight of stairs and I could see the sign “Painted Cave”. There was no sight of the cave drawings yet, but I thought I should wait for my company to catch their breath before I went hunting for it.

I noticed an area cordoned off with wired mesh up the slope above me. I bounded towards it. “This must be it!” I thought, and reminded myself not to get overexcited because I’ve read Trip Advisor reviews stating that the drawings have faded significantly due to erosion and moss growth. Other theories include the fall of a large tree at the north entrance—sunlight streaming in may have bleached the paintings.[7]

It took me a little more than a second to locate it. I saw faint brown markings of what seemed to be the last figurine standing, with its hands lifted, as if rejoicing that I managed to catch sight of it before he too, disappeared with the rest. At the corner was a pile of dugout canoes which would be the “death ships” I’ve been reading about. My heart sank as quickly as it rose. My companions were not so discreet—“Where is it? Is that all?”

The disappearing paintings remind me of how art imitates life—the impermanence and how the memory of those who have lived slowly fades away, and if you’ve watched Disney’s Coco, you’ll know what I am talking about. The memories of those who have passed on may be passed down a few generations, and if one is really well-known, up to a few millennia; some become gods and some are reduced to a myth.

Unlike art installations and pieces today that are meant to showcase impermanence, these organic paints on cave walls have held their colour for more than a millennium—rituals documented to last until the end of time. The protection of Sarawak’s archaeological sites fall under the Sarawak Museum Department, and according to Sherman, research for the Painted Cave’s fading drawings are still under peer review. The analysis will be done by this year. This has also been heavily discussed during the nomination defence with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and World Heritage Site UNESCO Committee. Until then, the natural decay will continue its course, and all that would be left to extend it’s ephemeral nature are photos and documentations of them.

FOOTNOTES

1. Translation: Are there crocodiles?

2. Translation: Don’t call its name. Or else it will appear.

3. https://discovermalaysiaunesco.com/portfolio/gua-niahentrance/

4. https://www.worldarchaeology.com/features/niahcave-sarawak-borneo/

5. Following the terminology of Tom Harrisson.

6. https://dayakdaily.com/ spelunking-on-the-moonnavigating-in-the-dark-ofsarawaks-great-niah-caves/

7. https://dayakdaily.com/ spelunking-on-the-moonnavigating-in-the-dark-of-sarawaks-great-niah-caves/

REFERENCES

1. https://www. nationalgeographic.com/travel/ article/paid-content-guide-tothe-great-caves-of-sarawakmalaysia

2. https://ificah-vr.de/wpcontent/uploads/SeelenschiffBorneo.pdf

3. https://www. researchgate.net/ publication/327837430’DEATH SHIP’IMAGEINPREHISTORIC CAVEPAINTINGOFKAIN HITAMCAVETHEPAINTED CAVENIAHSARAWAK

Rachel Yeoh

is a former journalist who traded her on-the-go job for a life behind the desk. For the sake of work-life balance, she participates in Penang's performing arts scene after hours.


`