Lenggong Valley: Perak's UNESCO World Heritage Gem

Lenggong Valley Unesco World Heritage Sites Malaysia

Situated in the lush Lenggong Valley, the property includes four archaeological sites in two clusters which span close to 2 million years, one of the longest records of early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent. It features open-air and cave sites with Palaeolithic tool workshops, evidence of early technology. The number of sites found in the relatively contained area suggests the presence of a fairly large, semi-sedentary population with cultural remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.

Outstanding Universal Value – Brief synthesis

The lush Lenggong Valley on the Malay Peninsula contains evidence in open-air and cave sites along the Perak River spanning all the periods of hominid history outside Africa from 1.83 million to 1,700 years ago.

Undisturbed in situ Palaeolithic stone tool workshops are located on the shores of a paleolake and ancient river gravel beds and dated in a long chronological sequence.

A meteorite strike 1.83 million b.p. blocked and diverted the river preserving Palaeolithic tools at Bukit Bunuh, where hand axes are among the oldest so far discovered outside Africa. Analysis suggests these were made by hominids which thus provide an extremely early date for hominid presence in South-East Asia.

A catastrophic Toba volcanic eruption 70,000 b.p. caused abandonment of a workshop site containing multiple tool types at Kota Tampan. Other workshop sites date from 200,000-100,000 BP at Bukit Jawa, 40,000 BP at Bukit Bunuh and 1000 BP at Gua Harimau.

The relative abundance of these sites hints at a relatively large or semi sedentary population.

Perak Man was discovered within Gua Gunung Runtuh cave. Perak Man is South-East Asia’s oldest most complete human skeleton. It is radiocarbon dated to 10,120 BP and identified as Australomelanesoid, a hominid type occupying the western part of the Indonesia archipelago and continental South-East Asia at the end of the Pleistocene and early Holocene.

Within the large karst outcrop of Bukit Kepala Gajah are 20 caves. Three of these, Gua Gunung Runtuh, Gua Teluk Kelawar and Gua Kajang, have revealed prehistoric burials.

Together these four sites in two clusters sites represent the sequence of significant stages in human history unrivalled in the region.

Criterion (iii) : The series of cave and open air sites along the Perak River in the Lenggong Valley is an exceptional testimony to occupation of the area particularly during the Palaeolithic era, but also during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods from 1.83 million years ago to 1,700 years ago.

Criterion (iv) : The undisturbed in situ Palaeolithic stone tool workshops located on the shores of a paleolake and ancient river gravel beds and dated in a long chronological sequence are an outstanding ensemble of lithic technology.