2500-year cultural sequence in the Massim region of eastern Papua New Guinea reflects adaptive strategies to small islands and changing climate regimes since Lapita settlement

Abstract

Islands present significant technological and ecological challenges for long-term human settlement, with archaeological investigations of islands globally able to shed light on the adaptive plasticity of cultural groups to changing climatic regimes. The Massim islands of eastern New Guinea significantly reduced in size throughout the Holocene (⩽11.7 kya), providing a unique opportunity to investigate the long-term adaptive capabilities of humans to changing island ecosystems. Here, we report a 2500-2300 year cultural sequence on Nimowa Island in the Louisiade Archipelago of the Massim region which began with the arrival of a late Lapita population during initial beachfront development. Sediment analyses indicate earlier settlement on the island would not have been possible as the coastline was unstable until near-modern sea levels were reached. The island was abandoned from 1290 to 530 cal. BP during a period of unusually dry conditions (‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’) and probable freshwater shortages. Re-settlement coincided with wetter climatic conditions (‘Little Ice Age’), associated with the establishment of large villages, the earliest expression of local pottery traditions and the onset of large-scale regional exchange networks. Import of non-local obsidian reflects two pulses of interaction followed by periods of increased isolation. With the absence of high-quality lithic resources, shell, coral and bone were used as a locally available alternative for tool production. Increased cyclone frequency from ~500 cal. BP greatly increased beach volume in the island and coastal New Guinea, which facilitated the movement of populations onto smaller islands. A late prehistoric shift in settlement patterns had a profound impact on regional social dynamics.

Village‐specific Kula partnerships revealed by obsidian sourcing on Tubetube Island, Papua New Guinea

“…years (1430 AD) came from East Fergusson sources (Shaw et al . 2020b). By contrast, in the northern Massim at the Rainu mounds at Wanigela, 260 km north‐west, only 3% (2/66) of the analysed obsidian dated to between 1000 and 500 calBP (∼950 to 1450 AD) came from East Fergusson (Bird et al .…”

“…Recent research has further demonstrated that more intensive settlement of several Massim islands occurred within the last 550–500 years when wetter climatic conditions prevailed and beachfronts rapidly prograded, providing salubrious conditions for sustained coastal settlement (Shaw et al . 2020b). These results lend further support to Egloff's model for ethnographic Kula development.…”

“…On Nimowa Island in the Louisiade Archipelago, cultural deposits also containing SMP1 pottery had similarly accumulated on top of concreted sand which prevented mixing with earlier cultural deposits and may explain the absence of earlier pottery at these Tubetube site locations (Shaw et al . 2020b).…”

“…2019; Shaw et al . 2020b). Further clarity is provided from evidence for pottery exchange between the southern and northern Massim, and between the southern Massim and Mailu.…”

Smallest Late Pleistocene inhabited island in Australasia reveals the impact of post-glacial sea-level rise on human behaviour from 17,000 years ago

“…By contrast, calcareous Lapita pottery on Nimowa Island dating from 2500 to 2300 cal. BP did not contain volcanic minerals as islands in the southeast Massim are not of volcanic origin (Chynoweth et al, 2020;Negishi and Ono, 2009;Shaw et al, 2020a). An age range of 3250e3150 to 2800-2600 cal.…”