Papua New Guinea archaeology

This paper emphasises sub-regional variation in the timing and nature of subsistence changes in the New Guinea Highlands at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. An analysis of the Kiowa lithic assemblage was used to examine the interplay between tool technology, mobility levels, and subsistence strategies by investigating changes in the procurement, manufacture, and use of different raw stone materials in an overall lithic technology. Throughout Kiowa’s occupation local stone was used extensively, and over time people increased their knowledge of the local lithic landscape, using more diverse local raw materials. Since the terminal Pleistocene, people carried reliable polished axes for a variety of activities and made expedient use of locally abundant river pebbles, while smaller nodules were located and carried as mobile toolkits to facilitate longer distance hunting and collecting excursions. In the mid Holocene exotic raw materials were also traded from more distant zones. The abandonment of Kiowa in the late Holocene shows that hunting became less economically important as cultivation developed in the area. Technological changes, in combination with changes in faunal remains are suggestive of increasing activ- ity at Kiowa through the Holocene as the site became specialised for bat hunting, perhaps driven by restricted land use and reduced mobility, reciprocally affected by increasing populations and the inten- sification of plant food production in the Highlands generally. Despite this, evidence for changes to hor- ticulture around Kiowa itself, in the Chimbu area, is limited to the mid-late Holocene, indicating that the early development of agriculture in the Wahgi may have been relatively localised, and did not necessarily displace existing subsistence strategies elsewhere in the Highlands.

The southern lowlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are biogeographically distinct. Vast tracts of savanna vegetation occur there and yet most palaeoecological studies have focused on highlands and/or forest environments. Greater focus on long-term lowland environments provides a rare opportunity to understand and promote the significance of local and regional savannas, ultimately allowing non-forested and forested ecosystem dynamics to be compared. This paper examines palaeoecological and archaeological data from a lowland open savanna site situated on the south-central PNG coastline. The methods used incorporate pollen and micro-charcoal analyses, artefact recovery and sediment descriptions. We conclude with an environmental model of sedimentation and vegetation change for the past c. 5,800 years, revealing a mid to late Holocene savanna interchange between herbaceous and woody plant growth, with fluctuating fire occurrence increasing toward the present day. Increased silt deposition and modified regional hydrology are also recorded. Environmental changes correspond in timing with the start of permanent settlements and human use of fire. In particular, landscape burning for hunting and gardens for agriculture have helped create the open ecosystem still evident today.

This paper provides preliminary insight into the nature and complexity of prehistoric pottery trade in the southern Massim islands of eastern Papua New Guinea. Petrographic and chemical compositional analyses are undertaken on pottery assemblages from two islands, Rossel and Nimowa, in the Louisiade Archipelago. Pottery was first introduced to Rossel Island from 550 cal. BP, whereas it was present on Nimowa from at least 1340–1290 cal. BP. Clay and sand samples from several Massim islands were also included in the analyses to assess the variability in the raw materials used to make pottery on different islands, and to determine if the place of manufacture for the analysed pottery can be identified. Petrographic analysis of 32 sherds broadly characterised eight temper groups, with the distribution of tempers not clearly related to any specific site or island. Chemical analysis of 55 sherds and 20 clay samples indicated that the islands of the Louisiade Archipelago are closely related in terms of their chemical characteristics, but can be differentiated from other groups of islands in the Massim region. Four major groups of pottery were identified with further groups beginning to emerge. There was some correlation between the chemical groups and the petrographically identified tempers. The data suggest that most of the pottery came from within the Louisiade Archipelago and the southern Massim, with the northern Massim islands having never been a major source of pottery on Rossel and Nimowa. It is argued that a southern Massim exchange network was in operation at least since the establishment of the Malakai site, and continued to operate after the later introduction of pottery to Rossel. The inclusion of Rossel in regional pottery trade correlates with the purported establishment of the Kula exchange network, with causal links discussed.

New Guinea was host to some of the most complex maritime interaction networks in the tropics. We take a multi-proxy approach to investigate the foodways at the heart of the extensive Madang exchange network in the last millennium before the present: 1) invertebrate zooarchaeological analysis identifies the dependence on shellfish collecting from the coral reef and sandy floor littoral zone; 2) examination of vertebrate remains demonstrates the rearing and consumption of key domesticated animals (pigs and perhaps dogs), alongside reef fish, birds, and possibly snakes; 3) human dental calculus analysis distinguishes that marine plants, palm, betelnut, and probably banana were consumed; 4) pottery residue analysis suggests that a variety of starchy crops were being cooked in locally made ceramics. We use this information to develop interpretations about the nature of land-use, mobility, and exchange along New Guinea's coastal fringe, as well as how foodways have transformed throughout the Late Holocene.

There is increasing recognition of the long-lasting effects of tsunamis on human populations. This is particularly notable along tectonically active coastlines with repeated inundations occurring over thousands of years. Given the often high death tolls reported from historical events though it is remarkable that so few human skeletal remains have been found in the numerous palaeotsunami deposits studied to date. The 1929 discovery of the Aitape Skull in northern Papua New Guinea and its inferred late Pleistocene age played an important role in discussions about the origins of humans in Australasia for over 25 years until it was more reliably radiocarbon dated to around 6000 years old. However, no similar attention has been given to reassessing the deposit in which it was found—a coastal mangrove swamp inundated by water from a shallow sea. With the benefit of knowledge gained from studies of the 1998 tsunami in the same area, we conclude that the skull was laid down in a tsunami deposit and as such may represent the oldest known tsunami victim in the world. These findings raise the question of whether other coastal archaeological sites with human skeletal remains would benefit from a re-assessment of their geological context.

The emergence of agriculture was one of the most notable behavioral transformations in human history, driving innovations in technologies and settlement globally, referred to as the Neolithic. Wetland agriculture originated in the New Guinea highlands during the mid-Holocene (8000 to 4000 years ago), yet it is unclear if there was associated behavioral change. Here, we report the earliest figurative stone carving and formally manufactured pestles in Oceania, dating to 5050 to 4200 years ago. These discoveries, at the highland site of Waim, occur with the earliest planilateral axe-adzes in New Guinea, the first evidence for fibercraft, and interisland obsidian transfer. The combination of symbolic social systems, complex technologies, and highland agricultural intensification supports an independent emergence of a Neolithic ~1000 years before the arrival of Neolithic migrants (Lapita) from Southeast Asia.

Since 1909, patrol officers, anthropologists, archaeologists, and others have identified evidence of a pre-contact trading network linking New Guinea with the Tor-res Strait. Current research in the Lower Sepik River Basin reported various ethno-graphic descriptions relating to cultural material objects stenciled on various rock art sites in Auwim, Upper Karawari-Arafundi region, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition to the rock art, the broader area has one of the most environmentally intact freshwater basins with lowland rainforests in Melanesia, and is famous for its architectural carvings and spirit houses. This paper reports new research that articulates local ethnographic knowledge about rock art with the art-work itself. The rock art panels contain a wide range of stencils primarily consisting of hands but also, importantly, several objects, one of which is the kina, gold-lip pearl (Pinctada maxima) shell. The kina shell stencils are, among other things, indicative of the remarkable distance over which the shells were traded and traditionally used. The Auwim case study is important because it is one of the relatively few sites across PNG for which we still have ethnography of rock art and therefore provides us with important insight into the past-present rock art practices and, concurrently, notions of cultural continuity.

This article presents archaeological data critical to our understanding of the pre-colonial past along the northeast coast of New Guinea. Two archaeological sites from coastal and offshore Madang, Papua New Guinea, were excavated to establish the timing of colonization by Bel (Austronesian) speakers, and the subsequent emergence of their trade and exchange networks along the coast leading up to ethnographic accounts. These sites include Nunguri on Bilbil Island, formerly the center of the expansive Madang (Bilbil) pottery exchange network, and Tilu, Malmal village, a pottery consumption area along the coast. Both excavations suggest that initial occupation at these sites by the Bel-speaking groups occurred very recently in the last millennium be- fore present (c. 550–650 cal BP), which is broadly in line with oral his- tory and linguistic evidence. From the start, this occupation involved local red-slipped pottery production and distribution, the exchange of obsidian and sedimentary lithics, and the consumption of nearshore marine resources along with key domesticated animals. In-depth de- scriptions of these investigations and the archaeological material are presented here.

The Sepik coast of northern Papua New Guinea is one of the most linguistically diverse places on earth despite communities there currently being connected into wide-reaching social and economic networks that cross language boundaries. One possible explanation for observed human diversity is that social connections were substantially less intensive prior to colonial pacification. As a proxy for human interaction, we compositionally analyzed 287 ceramic sherds from archaeological contexts using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to determine their place of production. Our results indicate that ceramics produced on Tumleo Island—currently the most important regional ceramic producer—were transported to other places on the Sepik coast after ∼1000 BP, suggesting that linguistic diversity on the coast has been maintained in an interactive environment for at least a millennium.► We analyzed 287 ceramic sherds from the Sepik coast of northern Papua New Guinea. ► Eight compositional groups, one associated with production on or near Tumleo Island. ► Exchange on the coast significantly predates colonial pacification. ► Transported Tumleo Island ceramics identified only after 1000 BP

The first peopling of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and the Aru Islands joined at lower sea levels) by anatomically modern humans required multiple maritime crossings through Wallacea, with at least one approaching 100 km. Whether these crossings were accidental or intentional is unknown. Using coastal-viewshed analysis and ocean drift modelling combined with population projections, we show that the probability of randomly reaching Sahul by any route is <5% until ≥40 adults are 'washed off' an island at least once every 20 years. We then demonstrate that choosing a time of departure and making minimal headway (0.5 knots) toward a destination greatly increases the likelihood of arrival. While drift modelling demonstrates the existence of 'bottleneck' crossings on all routes, arrival via New Guinea is more likely than via northwestern Australia. We conclude that anatomically modern humans had the capacity to plan and make open-sea voyages lasting several days by at least 50,000 years ago. Increased attention to maritime landscapes over the last two decades has re-invigorated investigation into the role of coastal environments and sea travel in the behavioural evolution of our species. New evidence has fundamentally changed our understanding of the cognitive capacity of anatomically modern humans 1,2 , genetic ancestry 3 , dispersal patterns from Africa 4 and the peopling of new environments 5,6. However, the role of coastlines and coastal resources in the dispersal of modern humans has been much debated. Proponents of a coastal migration model for H. sapiens out of Africa argue that coastlines would have provided for a fast, directional population expansion with predictable resources and supplies of potable water 7. Those opposing, point out that there is little direct evidence to support a coastal-highway hypothesis and that there is evidence that early humans were able to make use of savanna and rainforest environments 2,8. More recent papers propose a less dichotomous model featuring flexibility, involving use of coasts and estuaries, but not exclusively relying on them 4,5,9. Whatever the reality, it is clear that the ability to make even rudimentary watercraft and move directionally over water, both across large rivers and in traversing unknown sections of coastline, would have given H. sapiens a selective advantage over other hominins. Australia and the islands to its north (the Wallacean Archipelago) have been at the forefront of this debate because the maritime crossing from Sunda to Sahul requires lengthy water crossings that appear to have been beyond the capacity of earlier hominins.

Austronesian speaking peoples left Southeast Asia and entered the Western Pacific c.4000-3000 years ago, continuing on to colonise Remote Oceania for the first time, where they became the ancestral populations of Polynesians. Understanding the  impact of these peoples on the mainland of New Guinea before they entered Remote Oceania has eluded archaeologists. New research from the archaeological site of Wañelek in the New Guinea Highlands has broken this silence. Petrographic and geochemical data from pottery and new radiocarbon dating demonstrates that Austronesian influences penetrated into the highland interior by 3000 years ago. One potsherd was manufactured along the northeast coast of New Guinea, whereas others were manufactured from inland  materials. These findings represent the oldest securely dated pottery from an archaeological context on the island of New Guinea. Additionally, the pottery comes from the interior, suggesting the movements of people and technological practices, as well as objects at this time. The antiquity of the Wañelek pottery is coincident with the expansion of Lapita pottery in the Western Pacific. Such occupation also occurs at the same time that changes have been identified in subsistence strategies in the archaeological record at Kuk Swamp suggesting a possible link between the two.

The Reber-Rakival site on Watom Island is of particular significance, as it is the first place where what is now known as Lapita pottery was found, by a German missionary in 1909. It is also significant as a Lapita-era burial site, although there has been much debate about the exact relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation. In 2008 and 2009 an Otago University/Otago Museum/Papua New Guinea National Museum expedition carried out new excavations at the SAC locality in Rakival Village, in order to increase the sample size of both burials and ceramics, and to address some of the ongoing debates. The expedition found more burials, Lapita ceramics and associated artefactual material, and while it confirmed the relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation, it also found that previous excavations had not reached the base of the site, and evidence of human occuption was found up to 0.8m deeper than previously known. Based on this work, a refined stratigraphic sequence is presented, with 7 layers replacing the old 4 zone model that has been used to date. This paper presents the description and interpretation of the SAC locality at Watom, and provides a basis for other more specialist papers that are in preparation.

We report on archaeological and paleo-environmental fieldwork carried out in the area around Aitape, northern Papua New Guinea during June and July of 2014, targeted at understanding human response to environmental and climatic variability during the mid- to late-Holocene. We employ a multi-proxy approach to paleo-environmental reconstruction including geochemical and paleo-botanical analysis of stream and river bank sediments to examine local manifestations of Holocene climatic variability and geomorphological change stemming from tectonic activity. Excavations carried out at rock shelters on the slopes of uplifted limestone hills provide new data on settlement and subsistence practices during the last two millennia of prehistory in the area, including evidence for connection into wider regional interaction networks.

The mid-Holocene period (ca. 7000–3000 BP) in the southwestern Pacific witnessed the activation of wide-ranging networks connecting the north coast of New Guinea and off-shore islands, possibly driven by rising population density as favourable coastal environments developed after the mid-Holocene marine highstand. Yet finding actual evidence for human occupation dating to this period in New Guinea has proven extremely challenging. We report on the results of recent fieldwork carried out to examine areas of potential mid-Holocene settlement near the modern town of Aitape. Our survey and excavations provide minor evidence for mid-Holocene settlement, but we find no evidence for obsidian or other long distance imports suggesting connection to other parts of the Pacific during this time. It remains uncertain whether this absence reflects prehistoric reality or the difficulties inherent in finding archaeology of mid-Holocene age on a coastline impacted by significant morphological change during the intervening millennia.

Abstract This paper presents archaeological evidence for the initial occupation and use of a large clan ossuary on the upper Kikori River at Baina in Papua New Guinea. Drawing extensively on clan oral accounts of its use and function, it is posited that the timing and use of the site as an ossuary effectively dates the establishment of a sub clan entity known as Kesele and the fragmentation of larger clan based land owning units into smaller sub-clan entities dating from around 200 years ago in the region. It is further posited that evidence of the more intensive use of the site from around 600 years ago and its subsequent use as an ossuary at 200 years ago may be linked to its proximity to an important lithic raw material source used in the manufacture of sago pounders, a major trade item linked to the hiri pottery trade.

The history of pottery use along the south coast of Papua New Guinea spans from Lapita times, here dated to 2900-2600 cal BP, through to mass production of pottery associated with a number of ethnographically-known interaction (and exchange) networks. Understanding the antecedents and developmental histories of these interaction networks is of considerable importance to archaeological research from local to western Pacific geographical scales. The archaeological site of Ruisasi 1 located at Caution Bay near Port Moresby provides new insights into scales of pottery production before the development of the regional Motu hiri exchange system within the past 500 years. Here faunal remains indicate occupation by marine specialists who exploited a diverse range of local marine environments. Nearly 20,000 ceramic sherds are present in Square A, mostly from a 26cm thick ‘pottery midden’. A minimum of 45 red slip/plainware vessels based on conjoined sets of sherds plus two vessels with incised decoration are present; the maximum number of clay vessels based on Fabric Types is 146. The globular red slip/plainware pots have standardised shapes and sizes, consistent with mass pottery production. The concentration of sherds from these pots within the pottery midden reflects short-duration depositional events within the period of village life c.1680-1180 cal BP. Whether or not the pots were made locally or imported is the subject of ongoing research. Whatever the case, Ruisasi 1 raises the possibility of mass pottery production linked to a regional interaction network pre-dating the hiri.

This chapter investigates how Lapita communities used the Vitiaz Strait as a conduit for migration and exchange. We report provisional archaeological work on Arop/Long Island in the Vitiaz Strait of Papua New Guinea, providing insight into occupation prior to the c. 1660 AD eruption. This includes the finding of a potsherd overlapping in form and technology with Lapita plainware from the Siassi Islands. This sherd is tempered with sand probably deriving from Schouten Arc geology of southwest New Britain. Type X and Madang-style pottery is also present. Obsidian stone tools from surface collections all derive from the Kutau-Bao source in West New Britain and these were supplemented by local low-quality volcanic raw materials. We posit that these tentative finds are suggestive of Lapita occupation on the island, or exchange with Lapita communities around New Britain.

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