The Niah Cave, in Sarawak (which is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable: sa-RA-wak), is one of the crucial sites for the antiquity of man in the Far east. It was excavated in the 1950s by the controversial figure of Tom Harrisson, who dug up the skull of a modern human being which he claimed to be 40,000 years old. Was his claim true? Professor Graeme Barker has been leading an expedition to find out, and here is the full story of what he has found: is Tom Harrisson justified?