Caving in SE Asia: Archaeology in Perak Darul Ridzuan Museum

28 July 2012

Archaeology in Perak Darul Ridzuan Museum

The Perak Darul Ridzuan Museum is located in the city of Ipoh, in Perak, Malaysia.

The museum building was originally the house of a rich tin miner. Ipoh developed due to tin. The museum used to have a collection of historical artifacts on tin mining.

In early 2012 the museum was closed for a while for upgrading and to turn it into the Perak Archaeological Museum. This was in the expectation of Lenggong Valley getting Unesco World Heritage status. This listing was declared on 30 June 2012.

The museum is now open again and a large area is devoted to the archaeology display. The newly renovated interior is bright and with good displays and lighting.

Universiti Sains Malaysia agreed to hand over archaeological items found in the Lenggong Valley to be exhibited at the museum.

Stone tools in chronological order, but no information on what they are.

The displays are in Bahasa Malaysia and English.
There are good video presentations

The museum information is up to date and features all the recent finds, unlike the Lenggong Museum, which does not mention Bukit Bunuh.

A display of stone tools -

There is a replica of the Perak Man skeleton. Talking to the caretaker, he told us that this is the real skeleton. However the real one is on display in the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur. Although there are calls to take 'him' home to Lenggong.

The caretaker also told me that Perak Man had been tortured and then tied up. It is a pity that the staff are not trained about the exhibits.

The central hall features rock paintings and some of the Tambun drawings are displayed on easels

There are many video displays. Fortunately the sound was controlled so they were not a nusiance

The upper floor features more modern times. Sadly there is not much on display about tin mining, no lumps of tin ore etc. However outside is a display of tin mining equipment.