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scattering of artifacts and prehistoric relics in the Niah Cave are clearly closely related to the symbolism of
death, and have a correlation with the cave paintings that have been produced.

Conclusion
Cave paintings from charcoal are the most widely found cave paintings in Malaysia. Thus the Niah
cave holds most iconic images as the images painted in red. The images depicted are diverse, some are
shaped so abstractly that they are difficult to translate. Some are geometric, the shape of human figures
and hunting animals as well as more contemporary forms such as cars, bicycles and people riding horses.
Through this cave painting, we also know the activities carried out by the prehistoric community which
are hunting activities and activities that are still carried out by the Orang Asli community to this day.
Each nation and society around the world has its own ancient cave painting culture that can be
the gaze of today's generation. It reflects the creative expression of an ancient society. This suggests that
human activities in ancient times took place universally in visual form. The creation of cave paintings is
also in line with the history of the development of human culture and our knowledge of the culture of
prehistoric society.

Overall, past research has documented cave paintings in the Niah Cave, but there is a lack of
detailed research on the iconic and aesthetic aspects of the cave paintings. Therefore, this research
discusses the iconic and aesthetic aspects in the field of visual arts and peels off each of the resulting
motives. Next, the researchers also suggest the conservation aspect which is the conservation of this
motive in the visual artwork. He explained that research needs to be carried out continuously with the use
of better techniques or methods that can produce more objective and accurate findings.

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Centre for Research and Innovation
(PPI), the University of Malaysia Sabah in providing Skim Penyelidikan Lantikan Baru (SPLB)
research grant scheme (Project Number: SLB2210). The authors also thank the State Planning
Unit (SPU), Chief Minister's Department (Reference: (40) JKM / SPU / 608-8 / 2/1 VOL.2) for
permitting to research Sarawak. In appreciation of Mr. Mohd. Sherman bin Sauffi, as Asistant
Curator of the Archaeological Section, Sarawak Museums Department, supervised this research
on the site and also thank all the staff members of the Sarawak Museum for their excellent
cooperation in providing information from the archived collections used in this research.

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Ahmad, S. (2006). Lukisan Primitif Gua Batu Kapur Malaysia II. Jurnal Arkeologi Malaysia. Volume
19. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Ballard, C., Bradley, R., Nordenborg, M., & Wilson, M. (2004). The ship as symbol in the prehistory
of Scandinavia and Southeast Asia. World Archaeology. Volume 35. Page 385-403.

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