New Direction In Human Colonisation of The Pacific: Lapita Settlement of South Coast New Guinea

Abstract

Expansion of Austronesianspeaking peoples from the Bismarck Archipelago out into the Pacific commencing c.3300 cal BP represents the last great chapter of human global colonisation. The earliest migrants were bearers of finelymade dentate-stamped Lapita pottery, hitherto found only across Island Melanesia and western Polynesia. We document the first known occurrence of Lapita peoples on the New Guinea mainland. The new Lapita sites date from 2900 to 2500 cal BP and represent a newly-discovered migratory arm of Lapita expansions that moved westwards along the southern New Guinea coast towards Australia. These marine specialists ate shellfish, fish and marine turtles along the Papua New Guinea mainland coast, reflecting subsistence continuities with local pre-Lapita peoples dating back to 4200 cal BP. Lapita artefacts include characteristic ceramics, shell armbands, stone adzes and obsidian tools. Our Lapita discoveries support hypotheses for the migration of pottery-bearing Melanesian marine specialists into Torres Strait of northeast Australia c.2500 cal BP.

Terrestrial engagements by terminal Lapita maritime specialists on the southern Papuan coast

“…Recent excavation results from Caution Bay demonstrate that pottery-using (Lapita) peoples settled the Port Moresby region by 2900 cal BP, with pre-ceramic occupation extending back to at least 4200 cal BP (McNiven et al 2011). As such, people settled the Port Moresby region well before the previously hypothesised 2000 cal BP for an initial migration by ceramicists to the region.…”

“…Lilley 2008:79) and the period of concern reveals 'very little correlation with [anthropogenic] environmental change' (Hope and Haberle 2005:548). The recent excavation of Lapita and post-Lapita sites dating between 2900 and 2000 years ago at Caution Bay immediately northwest of Port Moresby, southern Papua New Guinea, negates the first conclusion of a purported absence of Lapita, and provides scope to challenge the second (McNiven et al 2011). For 40 years, the accepted view has been that Austronesian colonisation of the southern Papuan coast took place around 2000 years ago by maritime peoples possessing a pottery tradition similar to but post-dating Lapita (David et al in press).…”

Kumukumu 1, a hilltop site in the Aird Hills: Implications for occupational trends and dynamics in the Kikori River delta, south coast of Papua New Guinea

“…Until recently, the origins of this apparently early phase of ceramics were obscure and not obviously connected to the earlier Lapita tradition which appears to have undergone an initial flourish in the Bismarck Archipelago around 3300 years ago before spreading more widely into Near and Remote Oceania. However, discovery of unquestionable Lapita pottery in multiple sites at Caution Bay to the west of Port Moresby McNiven et al, 2011), in contexts securely dated to 2900e2600 cal BP, and of transitional pottery styles linking these through to so-called EPP wares , provides the formerly-lacking history for the Early Ceramic Phase.…”

Transcending the Culture–Nature Divide in Cultural Heritage

“…The financial and logistical support offered by commercial projects far exceeds that which can be mobilised on research grants, and significant academic contributions can derive from such involvement (e.g. McNiven et al 2011;Spriggs 2012). …”

“…Through many ongoing initiatives, such as multi-institutional collaboration (e.g. McNiven et al 2011), it is hoped that the current reliance on overseas consultants -especially at managerial and supervisory levels -will give way to an increasing reliance on national practitioners over the next decade. However, such a transition has been a recurrent theme in the recent history of cultural heritage management within the country (Craig 1996).…”