ON TRAIL OF THE HISTORY OF KUNAK - PART 8

The pottery industry at Bukit Tengkorak since 4300 BC had changed the lifestyle of the prehistoric people in the east coast of Sabah as well as in the neighboring South East Asian region. Since then, they were able to cook their food and store water close to their dwellings. Sailors were able to bring ample amount of water in their journey enabling them to make long distance voyages with only occasional break offs at the numerous small islands along the route to refill their jars.

The industry had also brought to light the artistic talents of the early settlers as revealed by the decorative designs on many of the broken pieces of potteries found at the Bukit Tengkorak Site. Whether the decorations have any hidden message or not is still open for discussion. Nevertheless about the same time (3000 BC) in the north, the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians introduced the first writing in the form of hyrogliphic and cuneiform.

In Mesopotamia, people had practiced agriculture for at least 3000 years. Around 4000 BC the Sumerians constructed canals to irrigate fields as well as transporting their agricultural products by boats to the cities. They have improved their roads where their donkeys trod, some pulling carts on wheels. There were at least 12 Sumerian cities and Ur was one of the biggest with a population of about 24,000. With big population came job specifications that brought about the birth of the Sumerian civilization in 3800 BC.

Agriculture was also in practice in South East Asia including in Madai, Kunak. As the population was very small agriculture was not practiced in big scale, not as intense as in Sumer. The small ratio of population to vast arable lands enables each clan to pick their favorite spot for farming without much disturbance or competition. With the absence of struggle for arable lands, the tribes left areas that had been used for planting several times, and considered not fertile, to open new areas. They became shifting cultivators.

It is still not very clear what type of crop the early settlers in the east coast of Sabah had planted. The most logical guess is, it could be plants that are endemic to the region such as yam and taro. Rice could have been introduced from Taiwan. It could also be brought by sailors from Sulawesi where archaeologists had found traces of the crop dating back to 3000 BC.

The practice of shifting cultivation had brought about to further colonization of the vast area in Sabah and Borneo as well as in other parts of South East Asia. As families became bigger, they split and went their separate ways to colonize new areas. As time went by, their dialects, beliefs and customs evolved independently leading to the rise of many different ethnic tribes. (See the blog abdnaddin or MySabah for images)

Rice was planted where the crop could grow well as in an area around the cave Gua Sireh in Sarawak where traces of rice that date back to 2000 BC had been found. Meanwhile, the Madai Caves, the last cave dwellings in Kunak, remained uninhabited apart from occasionally used as temporary shelters from 2000 BC to 500 BC.