A 40,000 year-old human occupation site at Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The geographical position of the island of New Guinea suggests that it may have been an early staging post in the Pleistocene settlement of Australia from the Indonesia-Indochina region. Previous data have not supported this, as archaeological sites 35,000 to 40,000 years old occur in southern Australia, whereas the earliest previously known in Papua New Guinea is 26,000 years old. We now report evidence that the north coast of Papua New Guinea was occupied at least 40,000 years ago. Sahuland, which is the greater land area of Australia and New Guinea plus their connecting continental shelf exposed as land when Pleistocene sea levels were lower than now, was occupied by humans in several widely separated areas at that time. A distinctive 'waisted axe' culture appears to have existed in New Guinea and probably in Australia in the Late Pleistocene, but antecedents are not yet known from east and southeast Asia. There is evidence for hafting of these tools at a date which is earlier than known elsewhere in the world.

Dating the First Australians

“…New Ireland was separated from Sahul by deep water throughout the Late Pleistocene, apparently no barrier to occupation by 36 ± 2 ka. This is only slightly younger than about 40 ka for archaeology on the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea, suggested by U/Th dating of coral terraces and TL dating of a tephra sequence, (Groube et al 1986). 3.…”

Le techno-complexe hoabinhien en Asie du Sud-est continentale : L’histoire d’un galet qui cache la forêt

“…Si l'on tient compte de l'éclatement des limites du monde sud-asiatique et de la fragmentation des paysages, il est signalé des traces de Hoabinhien du Nord-Est de l'Inde (Hazarika 2011;Mohanty et al 1997;Sharma 2010) jusqu'à la frange côtière sud-est de l'Australie (Bowdler 1994;Matthews 1966) voire en Papouasie (Bowdler 2006;Bulmer 1975;Groube et al 1986). En ne ciblant que l'Asie du Sud-est, sa présence est attestée en Malaisie (Khairuddin 2010;Matthews 1960;Sieveking 1954) en passant par la Birmanie (U Aung Thaw 1971), la Thaïlande (Gorman 1969;Higham 2013;Pookajorn 1988), le Laos (Bacon 2012;Fromaget 1940;Saurin 1966), le Vietnam (Colani 1927;1929a;1929b;Moser 2001;Yi et al 2008) et le Cambodge Mourer & Mourer 1970; jusqu'à l'extrémité occidentale de l'Archipel indonésien sur l'île de Sumatra et ses petites îles (Brandt 1976;Bronson & Glover 1984;Forestier et al 2005a;McKinnon 1990; Van Heekeren 1972) soit de près de 2 millions de km 2 ( Figure 6).…”

Impact of Human Colonization on the Landscape: A View from the Western Pacific

“…Waisted axes have been found in other archaeological sites in New Guinea (see Kosipe following) and Australia; however, these finds from the Huon are the earliest. Groube (1986Groube ( , 1989) speculated about their use, noting that the nature of the raw material precluded obtaining a sharp edge, thus they were probably not used as a sharp chopping tool. The waist, however, does suggest hafting onto a wooden handle.…”

“…These tools were found in terraces 80 to 200 m above sea level. A number of subsequent field trips undertaken by Groube and his students from the University of Papua New Guinea has taken place (see Groube et al 1986). …”

“…It was on one of these raised terraces that remnants of peoples who occupied this coastline 40,000 years ago were found. In 1980 Les Groube led a team of students on a field trip to the Huon Peninsula (Groube et al 1986). Alerted to the antiquity of the peninsula by geomorphologist Professor John Chappell (Australian National University), Groube and his students found over 100 surface finds of waisted axes in an area called Fortification point, below Bobongara Hill (PNG National Museum site code KIJ).…”