Bukit Tengkorak Open Archaeological Museum, Semporna, Sabah

Bukit Tengkorak Open Archaeological Museum is a museum in the town of Semporna, in Sabah. The museum, which is expected to open in mid July 2011, will exhibit the artifacts excavated at the Bukit Tengkorak Archaeological Site. It was built at the cost of RM4.2 million by the National Heritage Department.

Bukit Tengkorak (the name means "skull hill") is a 500-foot-tall hill, part of the rim of an extinct volcano whose crater spans 2 kilometers. The area has since been overgrown with vegetation. Archaeological excavation at Bukit Tengkorak has yielded shards from pottery, ornaments and tools from the Lapita culture, from some three thousand years ago.

Bukit Tengkorak is regarded as one of the finest archaeological sites on the east coast of Sabah. It was first discovered in 1994, excavated by Dr Stephen Chia Ming Soon of the Archaeological Research Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Dr Chia wrote his PhD thesis based on the research work he carried out on the site. The project was made possible through a partial funding from the Toyota Foundation.

According to Dr Chia, the site provides evidence of prehistoric trade and culture contact between Bukit Tengkorak and other sites in Southeast Asia as well as the Pacific realm. By the time research was concluded in 1997, the Bukit Tengkorak site has yielded valuable information about the movement of prehistoric peoples. An ancient pottery-making site was also discovered in the Bukit Tengkorak area, along with obsidian that was brought to Bukit Tengkorak from the New Britain area, some 3,500 km away.

Contact

Bukit Tengkorak Open Archaeological Museum
Semporna, Sabah

Phone: 088 253199
Email: jmuzium@tm.net.my

Acknowledgement

AsiaExplorers thanks Dr Stephen Chia for making available information on this archaeological site. The following article is referenced:

Prehistoric Trade and Culture Contact Between Bukit Tengkorak and Other Sites in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Region, by Dr Stephen Chia

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