CANCELLED Subsistence and environmental change during the Holocene occupation of Walufeni Cave on the Great Papuan Plateau: new insights from botanical and faunal records

* PLEASE NOTE THIS WORKING PAPER HAS BEEN CANCELLED *

Abstract

The 2018-2019 excavation of Walufeni Cave on the Great Papuan Plateau (GPP), western Papua New Guinea, revealed a rich sequence of human occupation spanning at least the Holocene and probably extending (in unexcavated levels) into the late Pleistocene. The findings suggest that the GPP may have been an attractive and relatively easy corridor for the early movement of peoples from the western Sahul coast into New Guinea’s mid and higher altitudes. This seminar, presented by various members of the Walufeni field and technical team, presents the background to the site and the excavations, and then explores patterns in site occupation throughout the Holocene through the available subsistence and palaeoenvironmental evidence. The results point to a relatively stable economic base at the site throughout much of the Holocene, through phases of higher- and lower-intensity occupation, with a marked shift only in the late Holocene coincident with the establishment of villages, the expansion of regional trade networks, and the arrival of Lapita peoples on the southern New Guinea coast. The site’s rich record and early occupation sequence thus charts 10,000 years of human occupation of and adaptation to New Guinea’s tropical forests, making it one of the most significant to be investigated in the western Papuan region.

Presenters

Bryce Barker, Andrew Fairbairn, Tiina Manne, Alison Crowther