GEORGE TOWN, April 19 — The study of the femur (thigh bone) of a 5,000-year-old human skeleton, uncovered under a house near Guar Kepah on Monday will be conducted by a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) researchers.
The team is led by USM’s Centre for Global Archaeological Research (PPAG) director Prof Datuk Dr Mokhtar Saidin, who is also chief researcher.
He said the study in relation to the femur would take two weeks, beginning today and it would be on display at the soon-to-be-built Guar Kepah Archaeology Gallery.
“It’s highly anticipated as previous excavation works were done on the site since 1890s but all were conducted by the British and the skeletons found were taken to the gallery at Leiden, the Netherlands,” he said.
“I have long suspected there must be something preserved underneath an old house on the site that has been torn down to make way for the gallery and true enough, within three hours of excavation works, the femur was found underneath,” he told reporters during a joint press conference with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng here today.
Meanwhile, Lim said the state government allocated RM25,000 for the study of the findings.
He said the state government also hoped the federal government could cooperate in terms of financial assistance and counselling services to ensure that the gallery could be successfully built as it would be beneficial to the local people and to introduce the country to the world of archaeology.
Lim also added that the state was in the process of contacting those in Leiden, the Netherlands, to bring back the earlier findings from the site. — Bernama
