Article

The antiquity of domesticated pigs in Sarawak

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The antiquity of domesticated pigs in Sarawak

Lord Medway’s 1973 article establishes that domesticated pigs of Sus scrofa descent were present in Sarawak by the Neolithic period (c. 1165 BC) and that the ritual deposition of pig jaw-bones in funerary contexts persisted with remarkable continuity through to the Ming period and beyond. Drawing on osteological specimens from two Sarawak Museum cave excavations—Megala E and Lobang Kudih—Medway demonstrates that the pigs represented were not the indigenous Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus) but imported domestic stock, and that their ritual use mirrors ethnographically documented Kenyah and Kayan funeral customs.

Summary

The article addresses a gap in the archaeological record of Borneo: although pig remains had been recovered from numerous cave sites excavated by the Harrissons, no prior attempt had been made to distinguish wild from domestic forms. Medway examines material from two sites with reasonably well-established chronologies. At Megala E, a single full-grown pig’s mandible (four post-canine fragments) was recovered from a Neolithic burial context dated by carbon-14 to 1165 ± 240 BC. Dental measurements place this animal well below the range of the Bearded Pig and separable from the Eurasian Wild Pig and Javan Warted Pig, identifying it as a domestic S. scrofa. At Lobang Kudih, a small funerary cave on the Sungei Terus near Beluru, Medway examined 112 jaw fragments representing at most 94 individual pigs, all attributable to a small, homogeneous domestic breed. The cave was used exclusively for burial, with associated artifacts dating its occupation to the late 13th through 16th centuries, most probably the latter part of the 15th century.

Medway’s analysis extends beyond simple taxonomic identification. He documents the condition of the jaws (unbroken at deposition, fractured post-mortem), the age distribution of the animals (a marked preference for 5–13 month old pigs, comprising two-thirds of the sample), and the morphological signs of domestic selection (foreshortened toothrows, reduced diastemata, crowded teeth). He then situates these findings within a broader comparative framework, noting that the Megala Neolithic pig’s dental dimensions closely resemble those of feral Sus papuensis from New Guinea and the New Hebrides, while diverging from European Neolithic breeds. This raises the possibility of a cultural or population connection with Australomelanesian movements through the region.

The ethnographic dimension is integral to the argument. Medway cites Hose and McDougall’s early 20th-century accounts of Kenyah and Kayan funeral rites involving pig jaw-bones, and corroborates these with interviews conducted in 1973 with Lian Labang and Tusau Padang. The practice of retaining pig jaws for ritual purification, as charms, or as burial accompaniments is shown to be a persistent cultural feature, linking the archaeological deposits at both caves to living tradition.

Key Findings

  • The Megala E pig jaw, from a Neolithic burial dated 1165 ± 240 BC, has post-canine teeth consistently smaller than the Bearded Pig in all dimensions except P4 breadth, confirming it as a domestic Sus scrofa (pp. 165–166).
  • Lobang Kudih yielded 112 jaw fragments representing at most 94 individual pigs, all from a small, homogeneous domestic breed with unimodal tooth-length distributions indicating a stable, selected population (pp. 167–169).
  • The Kudih pig’s toothrow is markedly foreshortened compared to the Bearded Pig: total jaw length ranges 168–187 mm versus 285–370 mm in S. barbatus, and anterior diastemata are reduced to 2.0–2.4 mm versus 10.3–24.5 mm (p. 170, Table 3).
  • Age-class analysis of the Kudih pigs shows 62% (55 of 89 aged specimens) fell in the 5–13 month range, with unweaned piglets (<2 months) entirely absent and animals over 24 months proportionally scarce (p. 174, Table 5).
  • The Megala Neolithic pig’s M1 measurements (length 15.0–15.5 mm, breadth 11.3–11.6 mm) closely match feral Sus papuensis from New Guinea (18.1 mm × 13.3 mm) and the New Hebrides (17.7 mm × 12.8 mm), but diverge from European Neolithic breeds such as Egolzwil 2 (M1 length 13–15 mm, M3 length 28–39 mm) (pp. 173, 176).
  • Modern domestic pigs from an Iban longhouse near Engkilili have permanent dentition falling within the range of the Kudih pig, confirming the continuity of this small breed in Sarawak to the present day (p. 170, Table 4).

Conclusion

Medway’s definitive takeaway is that the domestic pig in Sarawak is an import of Sus scrofa descent, present since at least the Neolithic, and that the ritual deposition of pig jaws in funerary contexts represents a cultural practice of extraordinary longevity—spanning roughly 3000 years from the Megala burial to the Kudih deposits and into the living tradition of the Ulu Baram peoples. The morphological similarity between the Neolithic Megala pig and Melanesian feral pigs, combined with the shared custom of preserving pig jaws in ceremonial contexts across Melanesia, suggests a possible link to Australomelanesian cultural movements, though Medway frames this cautiously as an open question requiring further evidence from intermediate-dated specimens.

Context

  • Primary material drawn from the Sarawak Museum collections in Kuching (Megala E and Lobang Kudih excavations), supplemented by comparative specimens from the British Museum (Natural History) and field collections from the Royal Society/Percy Sladen Expedition to the New Hebrides (1971).
  • The article contributes to the historiography of Bornean prehistory by providing the first osteological evidence for domestic pig antiquity in Sarawak and by explicitly connecting archaeological faunal remains to ethnographic ritual practice, a methodological approach that anticipated later integrative work in Bornean archaeology.

References