S13-5

Rock Art of Perlis, West Malaysia

Saw Chaw Yeh & Goh Hsiao Mei

Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

In Peninsular Malaysia, rock art has been widely reported in the state of Perak and Kelantan but not in other states such as Perlis, Kedah, Pahang, and Selangor. This is because areas such as Lenggong, Kinta and the Nenggiri Valley of Perak and Kelantan are traditionally identified as the significant archaeological areas of rock art in Malaysia. This paper, for the first time, presents an overview of the rock art sites in Perlis with a special focus on two newly discovered rock art sites at Bukit Jernih and Bukit Tengku Lembu. Perlis is a small state located in northern Peninsular Malaysia, sharing a border with Thailand to its north. The geological survey recorded a total of 103 limestone outcrops across Perlis, with the majority of them never being surveyed for rock art. To date, only two rock art sites were previously reported in Perlis, namely Gua Bintong and Gua Semadong in Kangar district. In general, the Perlis rock art consists of black charcoal drawings with a wide variety of motifs such as anthropomorph, zoomorph, watercraft, geometric shapes, ray motif, and other abstract designs. This paper provides new insights into the rock art from Perlis and further explores their relationship with other rock art sites across Peninsular Malaysia.