The Borneo Cultures Museum showcases a wide range of artefacts and extraordinary exhibits that represent Sarawak’s rich culture and history through the ages.

Here are some of the museum’s star attractions.

Niah ‘Deep Skull’

This skull was among several bone fragments discovered from excavation works within a deep trench in the Niah Caves in 1958. Early studies suggested that the skull belonged to a young man, but it was later found to be that of a young woman. Charcoal samples date her burial to about 35,000 years ago while 2016 research suggests that the fragments came from an early indigenous South-East Asian population. Stone tools found in the trench are evidence of early human settlement in Borneo around 50,000 years before present.

Replicas of burial poles known as ‘kelirieng’ from Belaga are seen in the Borneo Cultures Museum. Photo: The Star/Zulazhar Sheblee

‘Kelirieng’

This is a replica of a kelirieng, or burial pole, which belonged to the family of Kebieng Tuluy from Long Segaham in Sarawak’s Belaga district. It is carved with dragons, miniature creatures and hudo’ figures with huge fangs and jaws, which took craftsmen two years to complete. In its original location, it was surmounted by a large flat stone. The actual kelirieng now stands in the grounds of the Borneo Cultures Museum.