Sue Bulmer's legacy in highland New Guinea: A re‐examination of the Bulmer Collection and future directions

Abstract

This paper examines the archaeological collections accumulated by Sue Bulmer during her time in the New Guinea Highlands. Bulmer used this collection as a basis to investigate key themes in the island's prehistory. We focus on several of these research themes, established in the early years, but which remain pertinent: the occupation of the interior during the Late Pleistocene, the establishment of agriculture and horticulture in the Holocene, and the routes of trade and exchange from the coast into the Highlands. Case studies of recent research produced from the collection revisit these themes, providing valuable updates.

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

“…Polished axes traded in from nearby valley systems provide evidence for trade links connecting these sites with other areas in the mid-Holocene (23), and marine shell and pottery indicate exchange connections to the hilly lowlands and coast had formed by the last millennium B.P. (46,47).…”

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

“…A small tributary to the Mae River is located about 20 m from the site, which provided most of the lithic raw material for on-site tool making and use (Gaffney et al, 2015a). The presence of marine shell and pottery suggests trade connections with the coast and other parts of the Highlands were operating by the Late Holocene (Gaffney et al, 2016.…”

Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current Approaches to Landscapes, Exchange and Practice

“…The north-east coast stretches from the mouth of the Sepik in the north to the Markham in the south, and is characterised by uplifted coral, active volcanic islands and tropical coastal plains flanked by steep mountain ranges. It is an important area as it was likely host to early human groups as they passed along the coast into the Pacific 50 000 years ago (Groube et al 1986), and has subsequently been used as a conduit into the Bismarck Archipelago and the Central Highlands Gaffney et al 2016;Gaffney et al in press). More recently it has seen increasingly specialised modes of production and exchange leading up to ethnographic contact in the 1870s (Lilley 2017).…”