Hiri: Archaeology of Long-Distance Maritime Trade along the South Coast of Papua New Guinea By Robert John Skelly and Bruno David University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2017 ISBN: 9780824853662. Pp. xxxv + 570. USD85 (hb).

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-129
Author(s):  
JIM SPECHT
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
South Coast ◽  
Maritime Trade ◽  
The South ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
University Of Hawai'i

Exploring subsistence and cultural complexes on the south coast of Papua New Guinea using palaeodietary analyses

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 904-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kinaston ◽  
Hallie Buckley ◽  
Andrew Gray ◽  
Ben Shaw ◽  
Herman Mandui
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
South Coast ◽  
The South

Regional Interaction Networks in Southern Papua New Guinea During the Late Holocene: Evidence from the Chemical Characterisation of Chert Artefacts

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 343-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Sutton ◽  
Glenn Summerhayes ◽  
Anne Ford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
South Coast ◽  
The South ◽  
Cultural Changes

Over 40 years of archaeological investigations along the south coast of Papua New Guinea has identified a rapid succession of cultural changes during the late Holocene. The so-called ‘Papuan Hiccup’ (c. 1200–800 cal bp) is a poorly understood period of socio-economic upheaval along the coast, identified mainly from changes in archaeological ceramic styles and settlement patterns. During this period, the region-wide Early Papuan Pottery (EPP) tradition diverges into separate, localised ceramic sequences that have generic associations with local ethnographic wares. A correspondence between the timing of the Papuan Hiccup and a period of peak El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity implies a link between cultural and climate change. This paper explores this relationship further by examining changes in interaction networks along the south coast of Papua New Guinea, specifically focusing on chert artefacts. Chemical characterisation (portable X-Ray Fluorescence; pXRF) and technological analysis are used to map changes in lithic technology over time, including access to raw materials and technological organisation, at the site of Taurama, a prehistoric coastal village site that was occupied both prior to and after the Papuan Hiccup. Although the sample sizes are small and the interpretations necessarily circumscribed, it is argued that changes in the number of chert sources being exploited and in the intensity of core reduction at Taurama may be related to climate change in the region.

Imported obsidian at Caution Bay, south coast of Papua New Guinea: cessation of long distance procurement c. 1,900 cal BP

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Mialanes ◽  
Bruno David ◽  
Anne Ford ◽  
Thomas Richards ◽  
Ian J. McNiven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
South Coast ◽  
Long Distance

COMBINING ORAL TRADITIONS AND BAYESIAN CHRONOLOGICAL MODELING TO UNDERSTAND VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE GULF OF PAPUA (PAPUA NEW GUINEA)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Chris Urwin ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Henry Arifeae
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Spatial History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Gulf Of Papua ◽  
The Village

ABSTRACT When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of the Gulf of Papua (southern Papua New Guinea). These central places sustained long-distance exchange and decade-spanning ceremonial cycles. Besides ethnohistoric records, little is known of the villages’ antiquity, spatiality, or development. Here we combine oral traditional and 14C chronological evidence to investigate the spatial history of two ancestral village sites in Orokolo Bay: Popo and Mirimua Mapoe. A Bayesian model composed of 35 14C assays from seven excavations, alongside the oral traditional accounts, demonstrates that people lived at Popo from 765–575 cal BP until 220–40 cal BP, at which time they moved southwards to Mirimua Mapoe. The village of Popo spanned ca. 34 ha and was composed of various estates, each occupied by a different tribe. Through time, the inhabitants of Popo transformed (e.g., expanded, contracted, and shifted) the village to manage social and ceremonial priorities, long-distance exchange opportunities and changing marine environments. Ours is a crucial case study of how oral traditional ways of understanding the past interrelate with the information generated by Bayesian 14C analyses. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations, strengths, and uncertainties inherent to these forms of chronological knowledge.

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