Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian researchers believe they have discovered a new set of prehistoric human bones in a cave near the largest man-make lake in Southeast Asia, newspapers reported today.

The skeletal remains are of a youth who died 8,000 to 11,000 years ago, the Sunday Star quoted deputy director of the Institute of Malay World and Civilisation of the National University of Malaysia, Nik Hasan Shuhaimi, as saying.

The bones were found in the Bewah Cave near Kenyir Lake in the northeastern state of Terengganu in November. DNA samples have been sent to the United States for radiocarbon dating with results expected in March, it said.

Nik Hassan said pieces of pottery, some bearing apparent rock paintings and believed to date back to the Neolithic Age, were also found in the area.

The oldest human remains in Malaysia were discovered in 1991 in the northern state of Perak. The skeleton of"Perak Man" was believed to be 11,000 years old, the New Sunday Times newspaper said.