GEORGE TOWN: The Guar Kepah Archaeological Gallery in Kepala Batas and the Wadda Gurdwara Sahib building have been listed as national heritage sites under the National Heritage Act 2005.
In welcoming the good news, State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the listing is in line with the state government's initiative to preserve and protect its heritage sites.
"With the addition of the two sites as national heritage, we can continue to further develop the state's heritage sector.
"We can also instill more awareness to encourage both the public and private sectors to protect the state's heritage."
In April 2017, a prehistoric human skeleton, believed to be at least 5,000 years old, was uncovered during the construction of a gallery for the Guar Kepah neolithic site near Kepala Batas.
Researchers found a skull, a femur bone and a rib cage beneath the floor of a house which had been demolished to make way for the gallery.
The skeletal remains, dubbed the "Penang Woman", was the first and only remaining neolithic skeleton found in a shell midden in Malaysia.
Shell middens refer to mounds of kitchen debris consisting mostly of shells and other food remnants and are indicative of ancient human settlement and sometimes used as burial sites.
The remains were discovered in shell midden C with her arms folded and surrounded by pottery, stone tools and several different types of shells, an indication of her important position in her society.
In total, 41 skeletons from three shell middens identified as A, B and C in Guar Kepah were excavated by British archaeologists between 1851 and 1934 and those skeletons are now at the National Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden, Holland.
Founded in 1901, the Wadda Gurdwara Sahib, the biggest gurdwara in Southeast Asia, was first named Diamond Jubilee Sikh Temple to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria of Britain. The Wadda Gurdwara Sahib building was built in 1903.