Cannibalism and developments to socio-political systems from 540 BP in the Massim Islands of south-east Papua New Guinea. In From Field to Museum—Studies from Melanesia in Honour of Robin Torrence, ed. Jim Specht, Val Attenbrow, and Jim Allen (original) (raw)
Related papers
International Journal of …, 2012
By integrating osteological, taphonomic, archaeological, and stable isotopic data, we test for cannibalism in the Lau Group, Fiji, and discuss the potential underlying cause(s) and context(s) of this behavior. First, we compare taphonomic and element representations of human skeletal material from two contexts in Fiji, examining human bone fragments from archaeological sites, including middens and burials in the Lau Island Group. Fourteen sites produced human remains. Only two of those sites included distinct human burial contexts, but in the remaining 12 sites, the human bone was recovered from middens or contexts where midden was mixed with possible secondary burials. A total of 262 NISP, representing an estimated 15 MNI make up the Lau human assemblage. Second, we analyzed bones contained in 20 individual human burials from four different sites that are housed at the Fiji Museum for comparative purposes. Third, we examine previously published stable isotopic (δ13C, δ15N) analysis of bone collagen to gauge protein consumption of likely cannibalized humans in midden contexts and potential cannibals from primary burials. We model a cannibalistic diet category within the context of isotopically-measured Pacific Islands food groups and apply an isotopic mixing model to gauge plausible dietary contributions from six sources including human flesh. Isotopic mixing models of the Lauan samples illustrate a high diversity in reconstructed diets. The percent contribution of human flesh is low for all individual Lauans. We conclude that mortuary rituals evidenced by sharp-force trauma (SFT) may suggest non-nutritive and nonviolent practices that may have included the consumption of small amounts of human flesh.
Maeir, A. M. 2015. A Feast in Papua New Guinea. Near Eastern Archaeology 78(1).
During a visit to Papua New Guinea, I documented and participated in a traditional feast in a remote village in the Finisterre Mountain Range. Although the cultural manifestations seen were very different from those of ancient Near Eastern cultures, various aspects which I witnessed were of much interest for those interested in understanding ancient feasting in general, and in the archaeological evidence of feasting from the ancient Near East in particular. The version uploaded here is the almost final page proof. If you would like the final PDF, please contact me (arenmaeir@gmail.com)
Small-scale excavationwas undertaken at the Malakai site on the small island of Nimowa, located in the Louisiade Archipelago, Massim region, Papua New Guinea. This is the first excavation to be reported in detail from the archipelago,with the Malakai site providing insight into cultural practices on the island and pottery exchange in the southern Massim region. A stratified deposit was revealed with dense cultural material, first inhabited from 1350 to 1290 cal. BP, with a subsequent period of settlement within the last 460–300 cal. years. Pottery, shell, and stone artifacts were recovered, as well as human skeletal remains in a primary burial context,which contributes to understanding regional patterns of prehistoric mortuary activity. It is argued that Nimowa was already part of an exchange network that encompassed many of the southern Massim islands when the Malakai site was first occupied.There is increased diversity in the number of vessel forms in later prehistory, but with remarkable continuity in the decorative motifs over time, suggesting some degree of regional social cohesion in the southern Massim. It appears that the northern Massim islands were not a major supplier of pottery to Nimowa. The implications for the prehistory of the wider region are subsequently discussed.
The White Man as Cannibal in the New Guinea Highlands
It is a commonplace in anthropology that cannibalism is often imputed to other people beyond one's cultural horizon, the implication being that they are less than fully human. This form of "othering" has been most fully explored in its Western manifestations, as an aspect of the legitimating ideology of colonialism, missionization, and other forms of cultural imperialism. Though Arens (1979) is no doubt wrong to claim that there is no reliable evidence for cannibalism ever have been regularly practiced anywhere , and his argument may inadvertently concede much of the ethical ground he seeks to defend, he was no doubt right about the important part that imputations of cannibalism have played in Western constructions of the savage "other" beyond the frontiers of civilization. Far less attention has been paid to the imputation of cannibalism to Europeans by others. Here I will try to redress that imbalance by adducing some examples of the discourse of cannibalism among the Ku Waru people of Highland New Guinea.
Human and nonhuman faunal remains from small deposits at three sites, NGRP 16, 23, and 46, were analyzed to determine the species and minimum numbers of individuals represented, and to investigate the processes of natural and human-induced modification that resulted in the extensive fragmentation of the human remains. Taphonomic analysis indicates perimortem modification of the human remains during disarticulation and processing as well as pig predation. The types and locations of tool marks, fractures, and fracture products are quantified and described, and quantitative taphonomic profiles for the human remains are compared to human and nonhuman bone assemblages from middens and normative burial contexts on Fiji. The NGRP assemblages do not taphonomically match other assemblages believed to represent incidents of cannibalism, but this does not rule out the consumption of human flesh or decomposition fluids. We reject the notion of a universal taphonomic signature of cannibalism, and find it more constructive to examine these data in the context of archaeologically and ethnographically documented mortuary practice in the region. We propose that the assemblages from these sites represent secondary deposits of human remains that were part of multistage mortuary programs that included the curation of specific skeletal elements, as documented in ethnographic accounts of mortuary ritual across Melanesia and far into antiquity. This study presented an interesting test of how we identify and interpret evidence of mortuary behavior when we encounter assemblages of human remains that do not fit the traditional concept of a burial or mortuary feature as most archaeologists know it.
The introduction and exchange of pottery between Pacific Islands can provide insight into interaction and social organisation from both regional and local perspectives. In the Massim island region of far eastern Papua New Guinea, pottery is present in the archaeological record from 2800 to 2600 calBP. However, on Rossel Island, a relatively isolated landmass in the far east of the Louisiade Archipelago, archaeological excavation and AMS dating of several sites has determined that pottery on this island was a late prehistoric introduction, from 550–500 calBP. The introduction of pottery coincided with the establishment of increasingly complex exchange networks in the Massim, namely the Kula. It is argued in this paper that the desire for Kula participants to obtain high-quality shell necklaces (bagi), which are prominently manufactured on Rossel, led to the island becoming more actively involved in down-the-line regional exchange. Pottery is largely found on the western end of Rossel, where most bagi are manufactured. The uneven distribution of pottery across the island is further argued to indicate a socio-economic/political divide between the populations living on the western and eastern ends, which is supported by linguistic and anthropological evidence.
Australian Archaeology, 2010
Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary ethnographic information indicates dry season site use with subsistence practices directed towards riverine fishing and shellfishing, mammal hunting and gardening in the surrounding rainforest. But how long has the site been used and when in the past did activities start to resemble those known ethnographically? Archaeological excavations revealed three pulses of activity: Recent Phase (0-500 cal BP), Middle Phase (900-1200 cal BP) and Early Phase (2500-2850 cal BP). Pollen data reveal increasing rainforest disturbance by people through time. While the best match between ethnographic and archaeological practices occurs during the Recent Phase, selected aspects of Rumu subsistence extend back to the Early Phase. As the temporal depth of ethnographically-known practices differs between archaeological sites, a complex picture emerges where Rumu cultural practices unfolded at differing points in time and space over a period of at least 3000 years.
An ethnoarchaeological study of feasting in Sulawesi, Indonesia
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2004
Recent literature suggests that feasting played a major role in such developments as the emergence of socioeconomic inequalities, the creation and utilization of political power, and the evolution of prestige technologies in prehistoric societies. Ethnoarchaeological studies of feasting in traditional societies have the potential to shed light on how feasting is related to these and other sociopolitical issues and how it can be identified archaeologically. This article presents the results of an ethnoarchaeological case study of traditional feasting in Kanan, Indonesia. An analysis of feasting-related material culture in Kanan demonstrates that the material manifestations of feasting can be attributed to a number of factors: the types of feasts held (solidarity or promotional), the scale of the feast, the materials used to prepare and serve food, and the types of foods consumed (e.g., domesticated animals vs. wild game). Additionally, this study shows that ecological conditions have a significant effect on the types of feasts that are held in a society and on the feasting behavior of individual households.