Once a major pottery
producing site, Bukit Tengkorak or Skull Hill sits in down
town Semporna. This archeological magnificence is a 30 minute track
from the centre of town.
Walking up the wooden
stairs on the upper forested area will lead you to the cave system.
Here a museum welcomes visitors to view its historical finds.
Archeological research uncovered pottery shards in layers of ash
which were probably remnants of open kilns used for firing pottery.
Excavations discovered clay for pottery making. Historical studies
point to trading between the people of Bukit Tengkorak and other
prehistoric communities along the southeastern coast of Sabah.
Archaeologists believed that
long-distance sea trade and migration of people in insular SEA and
the Pacific moved east from Melanesia (near Papua New Guinea) to
Polynesia, leaving behind what is known as the “Lapita culture” of
pottery, stone tools and ornaments.
“Our research at Bukit Tengkorak
shows that 3,000 years ago, people were not only moving east towards
New Britain in Melanesia but also westwards towards Sabah,” explains
Dr Stephen Chia of USM’s Centre for Archaeological Research
Malaysia, who based his PhD thesis on the site.
“This is one of the longest trading
routes in the world during the Neolithic period,” says the
archeochemist who found obsidian (a volcanic glass used to make
tools) at the site and traced it chemically to Talasea in New
Britain, 3500 kilometres away. His fieldwork in Southeast Asia also
found stone tools and pottery similar to Bukit Tengkorak in the
Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago and Sulawesi.
Earmarked as one of
the major attractions for the district, this place will be further
developed and will eventually feature heritage trails based on the
Bajau theme.
