ABSTRACT
<abs_text>When sea levels fell in the last glacial cycle, the islands of Borneo, Java and Sumatra were conjoined with present mainland Southeast Asia to form an enormous landmass known as Sunda. Homo sapiens was present in modern-day Sumatra between 60,000 and 70,000 years ago and was already living in rainforest. Our main source of information of the subsistence and technology of the first human inhabitants of Sunda is from the cave of Niah on Borneo. Recent data shows that the inhabitants were hunting animals that lived in the tree canopy and detoxifying otherwise poisonous plants by 40,000 years ago. Another recent discovery is that cave paintings were being produced on Borneo 40,000 years ago – as early as in western Europe.
