Bukit Bunuh is in the Lenggong valley, Perak, Malaysia. The excavation site at Bukit Bunuh was dug about 2000 and revealed stone artefacts, and the litho workshop was dated at 40,000 years. Prior to these finds, the oldest site in the Lenggong Valley was said to be at Bukit Jawa, up to 200,000 years old -
The Bukit Bunuh site later revealed stone artefacts such as handaxes and chopping tools. They were found embedded in suevite rock, which formed as a result of the impact of meteorites.
These were then dated at 1.83 million years old. The Malaysian researchers then claimed that early man had existed in Southeast Asia, specifically in Malaysia more than 1.8 million years ago. They then suggested rewriting the "Out of Africa" theory.
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| labels L-R hammer stone, hand axe, flake tool |
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| hand axe 1.83 myo |
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mokhtar, the handaxe, made from a type of quartz found in river beds, is the first of its kind found in this region, making it the oldest artefact found in the world.
The whole thing is controversial. USM are making these claims but they haven't been independently verified. Nothing seems to have been published in international journals.
The date of impact is given as 1.83 million year ago, "using a fission track dating method in Geochronology Lab in Japan, Tokyo". In most reports there is no error margin given. So it could mean between 1.825 and 1.835 million year ago. There is however an error margin in this report from Archaeology News , 1.83 ± 0.61 million year ago. It means that the meteorite hit earth between 1.2 and 2.4 million year ago.
In July 2012 (USM) announced they would "register the archaeological location which is of international status, Bukit Bunuh as one of the world’s meteorite impact sites". However by mid 2014 it was still not on the PASSC database. And as it didn't make the Malaysian news I guess it hasn't happened. It seems they are having to get new data before they can register it.
The site is in a huge oil palm plantation and there is no access. I was able to go there in 2014. There is no mention of it being the Bukit Bunuh site except for this sign.
Once inside the gate it was a case of pot luck in choosing the right track to take through the vast estate. We stopped to look at rocks
We saw a man doing some work and he kindly directed us to the dig site where the original excavations were done -
We then drove around
From the Lenggong Museum -
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