Bukit Jawa is an archaeological site located in Kampung Gelok, about 7km north of Lenggong town. Although Bukit Jawa was discovered in the early 1990s, due to priorities to other projects, it was not excavated until July of 1996. The excavation at Bukit Jawa yielded over 150,000 pieces of stone artifacts from 24 excavation trenches there.
Research evidence places Bukit Jawa as the oldest Paleolithic site in Malaysia, besides Temelong and Lawin, all of which date to around 200,000-300,000 years ago. In addition, Bukit Jawa is the oldest undisturbed and in situ stone age site in Southeast Asia, confirming the belief that the Lenggong Valley is the oldest human settlement in Malaysia.
The Bukit Jawa site was no the first that members of AsiaExplorers visited, together with a group of students from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The trip was made with two USM coaches headed by archaeologist Dr Stephen Chia, who demonstrated to us the way stone tools were made during prehistoric times.
Excavated site at Bukit Jawa, Lenggong.
Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies have shown that Bukit Jawa used to be part of an island situated in the middle of a now disappeared lake. Stone age people living here used to make tools at the lake shores. They also inhabited the coastal areas of the lake as these places are rich in food resources.
For more information on the archaeological finds in Perak, please continue to the webpage on the Lenggong Archaeological Museum.
The Bukit Jawa Archaeological Site, Lenggong.
Dr Stephen Chia demonstrating how prehistoric people made stone tools.
Members of AsiaExplorers at Bukit Jawa, accompanied by Dr Stephen Chia, archaeologist at USM, and Timothy Tye, founder of AsiaExplorers.
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