ABSTRACT
The stratigraphy of Peninsular Malaysia (formerly Malaya) was first described by Scrivenor (1931) in ‘Geology of Malaya’, which at that time recognized no strata older than Carboniferous age. In 1955, Clive Roderick Jones (1933–2022) discovered the first Malaysian graptolites on the small island of Pulau Tanjung Dendang, Langkawi, consequently demonstrating the presence of much older strata. The Early Paleozoic marine stratigraphy first discovered by C. R. Jones in the NW Malay Peninsula was subsequently recognized in other parts of SE Asia and became a characteristic element of the Gondwana-derived ‘Sibumasu’ terrane. This paper provides an account of the hidden history of the early discovery of graptolite fossils in Peninsular Malaysia after the re-examination of Jones’ graptolite fossils collection. The background to the events that led to this important finding, as well as its consequences for later stratigraphical research in Malaysia, were documented by Jones himself, complemented with the collection of field records, archives of papers and photographs. A biographical outline is presented of Jones and his career as a geologist in the Geological Survey Department of Malaya and his role in the development of geological research in Southeast Asia during the second half of the twentieth century.