Engraved prehistoric Conus shell valuables from southeastern Papua New Guinea: their antiquity, motifs and distribution

Abstract

In the early 1900s thirteen engraved Conus shell valuables were dug from prehistoric midden mounds in Oro Province. Since the early 1970s nineteen undated surface finds have been found in the northern Massim of Milne Bay Province. When three artifacts became available for AMS radiocarbon dating, provided they were restored after sampling to their original visual appearance, a specialist team was assembled and this paper reports its findings regarding the thirty‐two shells. The paper covers sampling and conservation, dating (including new information on the local oceanic reservoir effect), distribution, art, depositional and cultural histories. These distinctive Conus shell valuables are part of the material culture found along the northern coast of the eastern tip of New Guinea and on the islands of the northern Massim during the Expansion Phase c.1000–500 BP. Their decoration is comparable to that produced by Milne Bay Province woodcarvers in historic times. This continuity makes them the oldest radiocarbon dated artifacts decorated in the Massim art style.

Marine Reservoir Variation in the Bismarck Region: An Evaluation of Spatial and Temporal Change in ΔR andROver the Last 3000 Years

“…These were obtained from the Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand and the Australian Museum in Sydney. An additional 8 values have been obtained from published works (Chappell and Polach 1976;Petchey et al 2004;McGregor et al 2008;Burr et al 2009;Ambrose et al, in press) ( Table 1). These historic values are compared to 4 archaeological shell/charcoal pairs from Watom Island (Green and Anson 2000;Petchey et al 2005); Mussau (Kirch 2001) and Sasi in the Lou Islands (Ambrose 1988) (Table 2); and 4 paired U-Th/ 14 C ages on coral (Edwards et al 1993;McGregor et al 2008) (Table 3).…”

Pre‐Lapita decorated wood from Apalo, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea

“…Ambrose et al . ; Hodgins ; Kaufmann ). With the stone figurines, zoomorphic pestles and decorated mortars of the Papua New Guinea region, the Apalo find firmly extends this corpus into the pre‐Lapita era, and contributes to the growing body of data regarding this period.…”

Excavation on Nimowa Island, Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea: Insights Into Cultural Practices and the Development of Exchange Networks in the Southern Massim Region

“…Published archaeological work in the Massim has otherwise provided evidence for human occupation within the last 1,200-1,000 years, which has enabled a more detailed understanding of Late Holocene island exchange networks and social systems. On current evidence, by 1,000 years ago many of the northern Massim islands were connected with the mainland in an exchange network involving the distribution of pottery, Fergusson Island obsidian, and shell valuables (Ambrose et al 2012;Egloff 1979;White et al 2006). By 500 BP connections with the mainland had weakened, with social links, at least between the northern islands, strengthening.…”

“…Little is known of prehistoric Massim exchange of material culture besides pottery, and how it relates to inter-island contact (Ambrose et al 2012). The shell bead and armband blank recovered in the upper deposit are indicative of ornamental use and would have been worn as a necklace and on the arm respectively.…”