The Cultured Rainforest project 2007-2011 brought together anthropologists, archaeologists and environmental scientists to investigate the way in which the people in the southern Kelabit Highlands shaped and related to the natural environment through cultivation, hunting and gathering, settlement and placing of the dead. It also included research into the way of life of Penan hunter-gatherers living in the area.
The project was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The five principal UK-based investigators were Prof. Graeme Barker of the University of Cambridge (who led the archaeological component), Dr. Monica Janowski, then of the University of Sussex (who led the anthropological component), Prof. Chris Hunt, now of Liverpool John Moores University, Dr. Huw Barton of the University of Leicester and Prof. Chris Gosden of the University of Oxford. The archaeological fieldwork was led by Dr. Lindsay Lloyd-Smith, then of the University of Cambridge. The research on the Penan was led by Jayl Langub of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and also involved Dr. Huw Barton and Dr. Monica Janowski. Paleoecological field data on vegetation history was gathered by Dr. Samantha Jones, now of the University of Aberdeen.
Virtual Visits of the Highlands
As part of the Cultured Rainforest project I commissioned a 'virtual visit' of the highlands from Douglas Cape of z360. I provide a link to the full virtual visit on Douglas' website here and two films taking the visitor on guided tours through parts of the virtual visit.
Publications
2016
(with S.E. Jones, H. Barton, C.O. Hunt, L. Lloyd-Smith and G. Barker) ‘The cultural antiquity of rainforests: Human-plant associations during the mid-late Holocene in the interior highlands of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.’ Quaternary International: Vol. 416: 80–94. Part of special issue: Southeast Asia: human evolution, dispersals and adaptation, edited by Antony Borel, Hermine Xhauflair, Noel Amano and Andri Purnomo.
2010
(with Graeme Barker et al) ‘The Cultured Rainforest Project: Archaeological investigations in the third (2009) season of fieldwork in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak’. Sarawak Museum Journal Vol LXVII No. 88 (New Series), pp. 57–104.
2009
(with Graeme Barker et al) ‘The Cultured Rainforest Project: The second (2008) field season’. Sarawak Museum Journal Vol LXVI, No. 87 (New Series), pp 119–184.
2008
(with Graeme Barker et al) ‘The Cultured Rainforest Project: The first (2007) field season. Sarawak Museum Journal Vol LXV, No. 86 (New Series), pp 121–190.