Prehistoric studies in central coastal Papua

Abstract

During the larger part of my fieldwork, I had with me my wife, Susan, and two small daughters, Katharine and Lisa. Although village life was attractive to us all and would have been personally very satisfying, it was recognised that the acquisition of a European dwelling on Yule Island would allow for more efficient field work in that suitable facilities would be available. Within a few weeks of arriving I had set up a dark room for developing films exposed during the day's work, a wash room for cleaning and drying specimens and a small laboratory equipped with benches, shelves, drawing board and light table, all of which enabled me to fully process all artifacts, complete a preliminary analysis, and do a number of drawings. A technical paper was written in the field for presentation at the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Congress held at Port Moresby in 1970 based upon the results of analysis carried out in this laboratory. Another great help in the field work was a motor bike the University had allowed me to purchase. Although roads are poor in the area, native tracks are abundant and ideally suited for two wheeled travel. A two hour walk from home to practically any site was cut down to less than half an hour on the Honda, and of course much more of the country could be surveyed. Even though the village was on the other side of the island from the European settlement, our contact with its inhabitants was constant; through careful juxtaposition and intertwining of arms and legs, Katharine in front of me, Lisa between Susan and me, we would all set off on the motor bike to see our village friends of a Sunday afternoon. Our contacts with the religious community at the Catholic Mission of the Sacred Heart were also very rewarding, and Susan was able to combine her interests in the village and the mission by teaching secondary schoolgirls of the latter. The wrench of leaving Yule Island was considerable, and marked by a party of several hundred people, among which many tears were shed, and not a few our own. I have perhaps taken liberties in the presentation of this preface, but I find it personally meaningful to elaborate on our particularly enjoyable stay on Yule Island and on the many people who made it so. I would like now to single out many of the people from whom I received aid in Papua and Australia. It is obviously impossible to name them all and I beg forgiveness of those I miss; my appreciation and thanks is extended to them too. To the T'siria villagers on Yule Island I give my heartfelt thanks and I am especially indebted to Francis Hau and his wife and family, among whom I spent many pleasant hours, for their warm friendship and hospitality. The priests, sisters and brothers at the Yule Island Mission added considerable welcome variety to our lives, and here I wish particularly to name Mother Terence and Sisters Rita and Joseph Mary for their dominant roles in our relationship with the mission. Hau Mauna and Paul Arua from the Waima villages were very instrumental in investigations of sites in the Waima Hills, and to Father Robinson and Brother Owen and his staff at the Mainohana School I extend my thanks for their hospitality while on the mainland. Particularly on my family's behalf I wish to extend thanks to Mary Awai for often going beyond the call of duty in looking after the two children. To Mr. and Mrs. R. Edwards at the Ou Ou Creek Plantation I owe a great debt of gratitude for the hospitality which enabled me to excavate the Kukuba Cave site. In Port Moresby Mrs. s. Bulmer and Dr. J. Allen kindly gave me access to archaeological collections in the Deaprtment of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Papua and New Guinea. J. Toner, Field Director of the New Guinea Research Unit of the Australian National University could always be relied upon to procure and send supplies and equipment as the need arose. In Australia, foremost my thanks and apologies go to my family who have but rarely seen me in the last few months. I extend my thanks to the members of the Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies of the Australian National University. I appreciate what L. Groube did for me during his supervision. Professor J. Golson subsequently received the reins of supervision, and I particularly thank him for his stimulation and for his attention to detail. For the many helpful e changes of ideas and for their advice and information I thank R. Jones, R. Lampert, P. Lauer, B. Egloff, H. Allen, E. Crosby, J. Hope, A. Thorne, w. Ambrose and particularly J. Allen who has allowed the use of much of his unpublished data. Help in various forms also came from members of the Departments of Biogeography and Geomorphology, Human Geography and Linguistics in the Research School of Pacific Studies and from Professor D.J. Mulvaney in the Department of Prehistory in the ANU School of General Studies. For his helpful discussions on the nature of Pacific settlement, I give thanks to Dr. R. Green. In Sydney I wish also to thank P. Whit and J. Specht.I thank Mrs. s. Wilkie of the Department of prehistory for organising much of the tedious paper work necessary for archival records, while in the production of this thesis I am grateful to Miss w. Mumford for several of the drawings, and D. Marcovic for the photographic work. on Mrs. B. Fox, Miss A. Bayles and particularly Mrs. L. White has fallen the task of interpreting my typing errors and my handwriting in the various stages toward the production of the final draft. I also extend my appreciation and thanks to Mr. P. Grimshaw, Business Manager of the Research School of Pacific Studies and to Professor O.H.K. Spate for their understanding and indulgence through some difficult and trying situations. Finally, Mr. H. Polach and his staff at the ANU Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory deserve many thanks for the large number of samples needed for complete interpretation of the data presented in the sequel. I finally wish to express my gratitude to the Australian National University for the scholarship without which this research and the very enjoyable 3 years associated with it would not have been possible. Show more