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The First C-14 Date for an Open Site in Borneo

I T has been possible for the first time to secure a sample of charcoal suitable for radiocarbon dating from excavations in the ancient ironworking sites in the Sarawak River Delta (Santubong area). Although these sites have been subjected to a long series of archaeological excavations by Sarawak Museum teams since 1947, chronological conclusions have until now necessarily been based on typological study of value objects, especially Chinese ceramics, which abound in the Delta ground. The recovery of organic material free of contamination and in sufficient quantity to allow of analysis for C-14 (radiocarbon) dating is extremely difficult in open sites in Borneo. The disintegration of exposed organic material is rapid in the tropical environment, while significant disturbance of abandoned fire hearths is almost assured out-of-doors through the luxuriant growth of plant life along with the movements of the rich community of mammal and invertebrate fauna. There is the added complication in the Delta that re-occupation of the area, dating from the early 19th century, has led to much disturbance in the ironworking sites as a result of modern cultivation with fruit and rubber trees. One of the rare exceptions to the general rule was the recovery of a concentrated cluster of charcoal in good condition on 12 July 1966. The sample was obtained at Bongkisam, a large site located on the inland side of the modern village of Santubong. Bongkisam downriver, and Jaong and Buah two miles upriver, are the three major iron manufactories located in the area. Jaong, one-half mile up a mangrove creek from the true right bank of the Sarawak River, is the oldest of the ironworking sites, dating (by ceramic types) back to the latter part of the T'ang dynasty. Buah is a later Sung dynasty site on the opposite bank, now accessible only by about one-half mile of tidal creek, but at one time (like Jaong) on a main branch of the river, since silted up. Buah is roughly contemporary with Bongkisam; but activity probably