Conference Presentations by Gabriel Vilgalys
Over forty years of archaeological investigations along the south coast of Papua New Guinea has i... more Over forty years of archaeological investigations along the south coast of Papua New Guinea has identified a rapid succession of cultural changes during the late Holocene. Colonisation by the sea-faring Lapita people almost 3000 years ago is the earliest evidence of ceramic producing people in the region. Subsequent cultural development in the region led to the highly specialised exchange systems of the ethnographic period, such as the Motu Hiri. A poorly understood period during this sequence is the so-called "Papuan Hiccup" (c. 750-1150AD), during which a series of abrupt, localised socio-economic changes occurred along the entire coast. The Papuan Hiccup separates an early ceramic period, in which Lapita-derived Early Papuan Pottery (EPP) traditions are found at sites right across the region, and a more recent phase of localised ceramic sequences. A correspondence between the timing of the Papuan Hiccup and a peak in El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity suggests a mechanism for this cultural transformation. This paper contributes new data to the problem of the Papuan Hiccup, from the key site of Taurama, a prehistoric coastal village site located 21km southeast of Port Moresby, which was occupied both prior to and after the Papuan Hiccup. Changes in the lithic and ceramic technology, including access to raw material sources and technological organisation, have been mapped and the results of the analyses of the two types of material culture appear to coverge to tell similar stories of what is happening at Taurama; namely a decrease in the size of resource extraction zones at the end of the EPP period. This is consistent with previous suggestions of a population increase in the Port Moresby region, the result of population movements perhaps driven by the aforementioned ENSO peak.
Papers by Gabriel Vilgalys
The last five decades of research into Papua New Guinean archaeology have revealed a variety of r... more The last five decades of research into Papua New Guinean archaeology have revealed a variety of rapid late Holocene cultural changes.The Ceramic Hiccup (c. 1200–800 years b.p.) is a little understood period of change along the south Papuan coast. it presents itself at the terminus of the early Papuan Pottery (EPP) tradition as a rapid change in ceramic styles, lithic exchange, and settlement patterns. Previous interpretations have invoked causal factors such as migration, environment, and conflict. This article investigates this period of change by examining exchange and mobility patterns during EPP, through the Ceramic Hiccup, and into the ensuing traditions. Physicochemical analysis (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) of 39 potsherds was conducted to understand changes in ceramic production during this period at two key sites, Taurama (AGN and AJA) and Eriama 1 (ACV), in the Port moresby region of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. Although our interpretations are provisional due to a small sample size, it is argued here that, following the highly interactive period of EPP, a migration of ceramic manufacturing groups from the west supplants the local tradition (EPP) during the Ceramic Hiccup. There is a decline in interaction between ceramic communities toward the latter stages of EPP, with increased isolation and standardization of ceramics. This decline of interaction in the region is associated with a decline in chemical variability in ceramic components. The Ceramic Hiccup is representative of introduced ceramics, increased interaction and mobility.
Archaeology in Oceania, Sep 13, 2016
Susan Bulmer’s PhD thesis, "Prehistoric Culture Change in the Port Moresby Region", was a very im... more Susan Bulmer’s PhD thesis, "Prehistoric Culture Change in the Port Moresby Region", was a very important, and still often cited, contribution to Papuan South Coast prehistory in the 1970s. Fieldwork for the thesis included the excavation of important sites at Taurama Beach and on Nebira Hill. This paper outlines recent archaeological and bioarchaeological research on stone artefacts, pottery and skeletal materials from these sites and discusses the implications of this research for early ideas about late prehistoric culture change in the Port Moresby region. The results of the recent studies suggest a complex of cultural (Austronesian and Papuan) and environmental influences, as well as population movements into the region over the last 1200 years, leading to the state of affairs at the close of prehistory. This picture is similar to that painted by Bulmer and others during the pioneering period of Papuan South Coast archaeology over 40 years ago.
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Conference Presentations by Gabriel Vilgalys
Papers by Gabriel Vilgalys