Small game hunting in montane rainforests: Specialised capture and broad spectrum foraging in the Late Pleistocene to Holocene New Guinea Highlands

Gaffney, Dylan; Summerhayes, Glenn R.; Luu, Sindy; Menzies, J. I.; Douglass, Kristina; Spitzer, Megan; Bulmer, Susan

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106742

Cited by 12 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…9.5 k cal B.P. ), while Kiowa's occupation spans the TP through LH (48). Occupation of both sites was intermittent throughout this time span.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The overarching question posed in this paper is whether cassowary bone and eggshell assemblages recovered from Kiowa and Yuku reflect strategic harvesting and management of cassowaries by mobile foragers in the montane rainforests of eastern New Guinea beginning as early as the LGM. Growing archaeological evidence in the region suggests that the persistence of LP and Holocene foraging communities in montane rainforest environments was facilitated by their flexible use of diverse forest resources (2) and that resource use strategies differed by valley system (48). Cassowary exploitation presents a unique opportunity to investigate human management of a keystone rainforest species and the region's largest vertebrate, whose feathers, meat, bone, and eggs are all highly valued by people today and may have been important to early foragers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vertebrate remains from Kiowa and Yuku were analyzed following established zooarchaeological standards and methods (76). Sorted materials were weighed and recorded according to size class, and a full report of noncassowary vertebrate remains is presented by Gaffney et al (48). Casuarius spp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites in the montane forests of New Guinea yield early record of cassowary hunting and egg harvesting

Douglass

Gaffney

Feo

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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How early human foragers impacted insular forests is a topic with implications across multiple disciplines, including resource management. Paradoxically, terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene impacts of foraging communities have been characterized as both extreme—as in debates over human-driven faunal extinctions—and minimal compared to later landscape transformations by farmers and herders. We investigated how rainforest hunter-gatherers managed resources in montane New Guinea and present some of the earliest documentation of Late Pleistocene through mid-Holocene exploitation of cassowaries (Aves: Casuariidae). Worldwide, most insular ratites were extirpated by the Late Holocene, following human arrivals, including elephant birds of Madagascar (Aepyornithidae) and moa of Aotearoa/New Zealand (Dinornithiformes)—icons of anthropogenic island devastation. Cassowaries are exceptional, however, with populations persisting in New Guinea and Australia. Little is known of past human exploitation and what factors contributed to their survival. We present a method for inferring past human interaction with mega-avifauna via analysis of microstructural features of archaeological eggshell. We then contextualize cassowary hunting and egg harvesting by montane foragers and discuss the implications of human exploitation. Our data suggest cassowary egg harvesting may have been more common than the harvesting of adults. Furthermore, our analysis of cassowary eggshell microstructural variation reveals a distinct pattern of harvesting eggs in late ontogenetic stages. Harvesting eggs in later stages of embryonic growth may reflect human dietary preferences and foraging seasonality, but the observed pattern also supports the possibility that—as early as the Late Pleistocene—people were collecting eggs in order to hatch and rear cassowary chicks.

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“…9.5 k cal B.P. ), while Kiowa's occupation spans the TP through LH (48). Occupation of both sites was intermittent throughout this time span.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites in the montane forests of New Guinea yield early record of cassowary hunting and egg harvesting

Douglass

Gaffney

Feo

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

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“…During the Holocene, which began about 11,000 years ago, the Papuans began to congregate in the central highlands of this island. A recent study (Gaffney et al 2021) suggests that when the Holocene transition occurred on Papua New Guinea, humans had depleted much of the large game food resources in the lowlands. To acquire protein, hunter gatherers adapted and began to harvest small game.…”

Section: Evolutionary Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They conducted hunting forays into the highlands to acquire possums, fruit bats, and other similar sized animals. These short incursions into the highlands eventually resulted in permanent occupation of the region [23].…”

Section: Evolutionary Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Austronesian Advantage: Natural Selection and Linguistic Diversity

Clair

2021

Humans

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The “Austronesian advantage” suggests that Austronesian-speaking populations in Melanesia are resistant to tropical splenomegaly syndrome, a medical condition linked to chronic exposure to malaria. This hypothesis was proposed by Kevin M. Kelly in his 1988 dissertation, a subsequent 1990 paper, and a 1993 paper co-published with Jeffrey Clark. I now update the Austronesian advantage hypothesis with additional linguistic, anthropological, and genetic data. I find that cultural adaptations cannot fully explain the Austronesian expansion. Rather, the Austronesian advantage, a classic example of natural selection, completes the picture by connecting the Austronesian expansion with greater reproductive success. I also strengthen the Austronesian advantage hypothesis with data from Tibet. The correlation between language expansion and natural selection extends well beyond the Austronesian world.

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Re‐evaluating the evidence for late‐surviving megafauna at Nombe rockshelter in the New Guinea highlands

Prideaux

Kerr

Zoelen

et al. 2022

Archaeology in Oceania

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The causes of the Late Pleistocene extinction of most larger-bodied animals on the Australian continent have long been controversial. This is due, in no small part, to inadequate knowledge of exactly when these species were lost from different ecosystems. The Nombe rockshelter in the highlands of Papua New Guinea is one of very few sites on Sahul with as-yet-unrefuted evidence for the survival of megafaunal species until more recently than 40 thousand years (ka) ago. However, our understanding of the age of this site has been based on radiocarbon dating. Here we present new U-Th ages on large marsupial specimens from the deposit and identify a range of postcranial elements to species that include the diprotodontid Hulitherium tomasettii, kangaroo Protemnodon tumbuna and thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus. Direct U-Th ages of 27-22 ka ago on faunal remains of Protemnodon tumbuna and another large unidentified macropodid are consistent with the existing radiocarbon chronology, yet are minimum ages due to the potential for post-depositional uptake of 238 U and stratigraphic reworking. Pollen analyses indicate perhumid, montane forests dominated by Nothofagus persisted, with minimal human disturbance from at least c.26-20 ka ago up to the terminal Pleistocene. Collagen fingerprinting (ZooMS) demonstrates the potential of protein-based identification of megafaunal remains at Nombe in the future. This study leaves open the possibility of extended coexistence between some megafaunal species in the montane rainforests of New Guinea and intermittently visiting groups of people, and underscores the need for further investigation of the Nombe deposit. Although preliminary, these findings reinforce the view that debates regarding megafaunal extinctions on Sahul require a greater appreciation of species-specific temporalities and the degrees of human impact on diverse habitats across the continent.

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Small game hunting in montane rainforests: Specialised capture and broad spectrum foraging in the Late Pleistocene to Holocene New Guinea Highlands

Cited by 12 publications

References 117 publications

Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites in the montane forests of New Guinea yield early record of cassowary hunting and egg harvesting

Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites in the montane forests of New Guinea yield early record of cassowary hunting and egg harvesting

The Austronesian Advantage: Natural Selection and Linguistic Diversity

Re‐evaluating the evidence for late‐surviving megafauna at Nombe rockshelter in the New Guinea highlands

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