GEORGE TOWN: Work on the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery is on track and expected to be completed as scheduled in June.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said work on the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery has now reached 94 per cent.
He said, upon completion, they could proceed with the repatriation of 41 skeletons dug out from three shell middens in Guar Kepah, Kepala Batas, to be preserved here.
The skeletons were excavated by British archaeologists between 1851 and 1934 and are currently being kept at the National Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden, Holland.
"We still have some work to be done.
"After that, we are expecting the repatriation of the skeletons.
"Since this involves government-to-government, namely Malaysia and The Netherlands, there is a lot of paperworks to be done. There is also a presentation to cabinet for the skeletons that can be brought back to be exhibited at the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery.
"If all goes well, we expect to open up the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery in a few months time," he told newsmen here today.
He was asked about the progress of the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery.
In December 2022, the New Straits Times reported that the Penang government was expecting the repatriation of several dozen skeletons, currently stored at the National Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden, Holland, to Malaysia, in the first quarter of 2024.
DutchNews.nl reported that the skeletons, thought to be around 5,000 years old, were dug up by British archeologists in Penang between 1851 and 1934.
In total, they found 41, of which 37 are now in Leiden. The whereabouts of the others are unknown.
Malaysia has requested for their return.
In August the same year, the NST also reported that researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) scored a major breakthrough five years after they found a prehistoric human skeleton, dubbed the "Penang Woman", believed to be at least 5,000 years old.
The same researchers had put a face to the Penang Woman using the Forensic Facial Approximation method.
The skeleton was found during the construction of a gallery for the Guar Kepah neolithic site in Kepala Batas in 2017.
With the help of Cicero Moraes, a 3D graphics expert from Brazil, they used the 3D virtual reconstruction method to create the Penang Woman's facial features based on scientific data obtained from a CT scan performed on the skeleton.
According to Chow, there is a network of archaeological sites to be explored in the northern region for archaeological lovers.
He said, in Penang, there was the Guar Kepah Archeological Gallery and Fort Cornwallis.
"In neighbouring Kedah, we have Bujang Valley and Lenggong Valley in Perak.
"If all this can be packaged together, it will be something exciting for archaeological lovers to explore.
"It is good if the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) can work something out towards that effect," he added.
Earlier, Chow was met after the presentation of mock cheques to recipients of the heritage building category one repair incentives.
A total of 47 houses of worship, clan associations and associations were selected to receive grants totalling RM6,498,131.
The money was part of the RM25 million grant from the federal government's initiative for the conservation and preservation of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site.