Rock art and long-distance prehistoric exchange behavior: A case study from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Since 1909, patrol officers, anthropologists, archaeologists, and others have identified evidence of a pre-contact trading network linking New Guinea with the Torres Strait. Current research in the Lower Sepik River Basin reported various ethnographic 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 pastpresent rock art practices, and concurrently notions of cultural continuity.

Hand stencils and communal history: A case study from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

“…The types of emic information potentially available are in the form of identifying various rock art images with their names as well as local narratives associated with objects portrayed (i.e., material cultural objects), body-design parts and meaning (i.e., hand, foot and finger stencil signs) and the place in which they are located (i.e., rock shelters or caves). In Auwim, locals have identified various rock art motifs, especially the material cultural object stencils, such as the kina shell stencils which represent bride price ceremonies and long-distance trade networks (Edwards & Sullivan, 2008;Gabriel & Gorecki, 2014;Gorecki & Jones, 1987a, 1987bTsang et al, 2020), and bone dagger stencils which represents homicide events and boy's initiation (Edwards & Sullivan, 2008;Gabriel & Gorecki, 2014;Gorecki & Jones, 1987a, 1987bTsang et al, 2022). Individual artists were also identified, for example, some hand stencils were recognised as being made by a local elder's deceased brother whose skull was also placed in the cave; several informants were also able to demonstrate the production of hand stencils in addition to the identification of objects depicted; lastly, some hand stencils were documented as belonging to living and known individuals in 1987 (Gorecki & Jones, 1987a, p. 7, also Gabriel & Gorecki, 2014 and also in 2018 when the emotions of fear of Apuranga rock shelter were expressed through an oral narrative because of the information contained in the story (Tsang et al, 2021).…”

“…74-76, see table 3.3;Pettitt et al, 2014Pettitt et al, , 2015Rabazo-Rodríguez et al, 2017;Snow, 2006Snow, , 2013, the Americas (e.g., Bahn, 1998;Guichón & Re, 2021;Onetto & Podestá, 2011), Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia, Thailand and parts of China (e.g., see Aubert et al, 2014Aubert et al, , 2018Chazine, 2005;Chazine & Noury, 2006;Oktaviana et al, 2016;Solheim & Gorman, 1964;Standish et al, 2020;Taçon et al, 2016)), Australia (e.g., Gunn. 2006;Hayward et al, 2018;Moore, 1977;Quinnell, 1976;Taçon et al, 2010;Walsh, 1979), New Guinea (e.g., Arifin & Delanghe, 2004;Edwards & Sullivan, 2008;Gabriel & Gorecki, 2014;Röder, 1938;Tsang et al, 2020Tsang et al, , 2021Tsang et al, , 2022 and the greater western Pacific islands (e.g., Ballard, 1992;Rosenfeld, 1988;Sand et al, 2006;Specht, 1979;Wilson, 2002;Wilson & Ballard, 2018).…”

Rock Art and (Re)Production of Narratives: A Cassowary Bone Dagger Stencil Perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

“…Eighteen paintings include three handprints, one kina shell, two cassowary tracks, three complex figures, eight parallel lines and a stain reflecting an indeterminate motif (Gorecki & Jones 1987a, 10, table 2;1987b, 10, table 2). The site also contains evidence of superimposition, exfoliation and repainting on hollowed surfaces (Gabriel & Gorecki 2014;Gorecki & Jones 1987a,b;Tsang et al 2020). Gorecki and Jones (1987a,b) were told that these sorts of stencils were usually daggers made of cassowary or human bone and that the originals were used in homicide events (Gabriel & Gorecki 2014, 25).…”

“…kina, baler, conidae-shape-like stencils), and human and animal body-parts (e.g. hand stencils, hand-and-arm stencils and foot stencils; bone dagger stencils and bird foot stencils) (Edwards & Sullivan 2008;Gabriel & Gorecki 2014;Gorecki & Jones 1987a,b;Tsang et al 2020;. Our fieldwork in 2018 within the Upper Karawari-Arafundi region of PNG highlighted yet another key object stencil-the cassowary bone dagger.…”

A review of the rock art of Palau, Micronesia in local and regional contexts

“…Diverse concentrations of painted rock traditions found in caves and rock shelters characterize the majority of the rock art in Indonesian West Papua and Papua New Guinea (Arifin & Delangue 2004; Wilson & Ballard 2018; Tsang, Katuk, Ricaut, & Leavesley, 2020). Throughout highland Papua New Guinea, polychrome rock paintings found in caves and rock shelters depict an array of linear and geometric stylized motifs, local material culture and a design repertoire found on homes, portable objects and other items (Wilson & Ballard 2018).…”