Kosipe: A Late Pleistocene Site in the Papuan Highlands

Abstract

The presence of an archaeological site on Kosipe Sacre Coeur Mission was first noted in 1960, when axes and waisted blades were found by Father L. Willem during excavations for church foundations. Word of the site was sent to Mr W. Tomasetti, then Assistant District Officer, Department of Native Affairs, Tapini, and he informed White of it. Excavations were made there in June 1964 (White, 1965, 41–3; 1967). In 1966 the site was visited by Crook who collected further carbon and soil samples and in August 1967 White and Ruxton carried out further archaeological and geomorphological investigations. This report covers the entire history of excavations at the site.Kosipe lies about 135 kilometres north of Port Moresby and 20 kilometres north northwest of the Woitape Sub-District office, Central District, Papua, at 147° 16′ E, 8° 21′ S (fig. 1). The area around Kosipe has not yet been the object of a reconnaissance geological survey. Observations by Crook along the Woitape-Kosipe road, south of Kosipe and on the Kosipe-Tanipai track northwest of Kosipe along the Ivane River indicate that the oldest rocks are slates and other low grade metamorphics of unknown age with steeply dipping foliation. These are overlain, probably sub-horizontally, by several hundred feet of basic volcanics, probably largely basalt. The volcanics are probably of late Tertiary or early Quaternary age; they are strongly dissected and are not obviously related to any centres of extrusion.

Pleistocene occupation of New Guinea's highland and subalpine environments

“…Peter White first suggested that seasonal settlement at Kosipe was attracted by the abundance of wild edible Pandanus in the area (White et al 1970), a suggestion supported by abundant archaeological Pandanus remains directly dated to 30,575 + 399 BP (Wk-17261) and 30,727 + 395 BP (Wk-18233). Singleseeded Pandanus drupe fragments closely resemble P. brosimos and P. iwen.…”

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

“…Deposits down to between 80-100 cm were excavated. White et al (1970) radiocarbon dated charcoal found with the earliest occupation to 26,000 B.P., making this, at the time, the oldest evidence of people in New Guinea. White argued that people may have traveled to this high-altitude area in search of mountain Pandanus.…”

“…White et al (1970) suggested that this may have been targeted on the use of Pandanus, but the evidence is too sparse currently to test that notion. It remains unclear what form of mobility was involved, but application of optimal foraging theory suggests regular residential mobility to allow use of widely distributed resource patches (see discussion by Denham and Barton [2006]).…”

“…It remains unclear what form of mobility was involved, but application of optimal foraging theory suggests regular residential mobility to allow use of widely distributed resource patches (see discussion by Denham and Barton [2006]). Seasonality of occupation is a contentious topic, with seasonal movement to exploit the Pandanus fruits in the locally recognized November-December production season suggested at Kosipe by several authors (White et al 1970, Hope and Golson 1995, Fairbairn et al 2006, perhaps even underpinning the movement of people through the area (White et al 1970). Denham (2007) recently rejected this notion, preferring a less temporally constrained generalized foraging pattern.…”

Quaternary International

“…The earliest archaeological evidence for human settlement in the highlands of New Guinea comes from two sites in the eastern part of the island: Kosipe, an open site at 2000 m asl (White et al, 1970) and Nombe, a rockshelter at 1660 m asl (Gillieson and Mountain, 1983). Both sites have initial occupation evidence dated to around 29,000 cal yr BP and contain evidence of exploitation of local resources, possibly in a seasonal manner, during a period which was cooler than present.…”