Petroglyphs and place: complex histories at four sites in New Britain

Specht, Jim; Torrence, Robin; Mulvaney, Ken

doi:10.1002/arco.5243

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…In New Britain, an engraved drawing of C. bennetti among other megapodes recorded in the early 1960s has recently been reported (Specht et al . 2021). From the Upper-Karawari-Arafundi region of East Sepik, six bone dagger stencils were reported in 1987 from one site, Pundimbung (Gorecki & Jones 1987a, 10; 1987b) but it has yet to be determined how many are of daggers made from human versus cassowary bone.…”

Section: Bone Dagger Stencils In Rock Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The only report about rock art from the early twentieth century revealed a painting of cassowary from the Bomana area outside of Port Moresby (Strong 1923), but a detailed description was not undertaken. In New Britain, an engraved drawing of C. bennetti among other megapodes recorded in the early 1960s has recently been reported (Specht et al 2021). From the Upper-Karawari-Arafundi region of East Sepik, six bone dagger stencils were reported in 1987 from one site, Pundimbung (Gorecki & Jones 1987a, 10;1987b) but it has yet to be determined how many are of daggers made from human versus cassowary bone.…”

Section: Rock Art and (Re)production Of Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cited in Specht et al . 2021, 204).

Figure 1.A juvenile C. unappendiculatus named Tukana in Endum Creek, Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rock Art and (Re)Production of Narratives: A Cassowary Bone Dagger Stencil Perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Tsang¹,

Katuk²,

May³

et al. 2022

CAJ

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Cassowaries (Casuarius) are one of the largest indigenous animal species of New Guinea. Researchers have long been trying to understand their local socio-cultural significance. Here we present new results from interviews recorded in 2018 on ethnography associated with bone daggers, a material culture ornament and tool carved from the cassowary's tibiotarsus. We present a ‘storied notion’—a contemporary narrative from oral history of why cassowary is not simply a bird, and briefly describe cassowary bone ornamentation in Auwim, East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. By exploring the material history of Casuarius through a ‘storied notion’ approach, we reveal that cassowary bone daggers in rock art are narrative ideas of the species from its landscape to ornamentation and through to people's cosmological beliefs surrounding Casuarius. We argue that the cassowary bone dagger stencil can be seen as part of the life history of this animal.

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Section: Bone Dagger Stencils In Rock Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rock Art and (Re)production Of Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rock Art and (Re)Production of Narratives: A Cassowary Bone Dagger Stencil Perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Tsang¹,

Katuk²,

May³

et al. 2022

CAJ

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Echoes of distant pasts? New Britain, Vanuatu and Felix Speiser

Specht

2024

Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Reg

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Recent papers on the genetics of the First Remote Oceanians raised questions about the nature of two population movements into the islands of Vanuatu, particularly the dominance of 'Papuan' lineages in the second phase. The papers identified potential ancestral lineages in New Britain, Papua New Guinea and cited Vanuatu linguistic features and cultural practices as additional evidence for the origin of the second phase in that region. This paper reviews these claims through an examination of ethnographic and archaeological records, focusing on the head binding of babies (artificial cranial modification), the raising of full-circle tusker pigs and their tusks, aspects of pottery forms, and stone arrangements. While noting some differences, the review broadly supports the claims of Speiser, the geneticists and the archaeologists, and proposes likely contacts between Vanuatu and the New Guinea -New Britain -north Solomons areas during the last 1000 years or so. There is currently no cultural evidence for the postulated earlier secondary movement that introduced 'Papuan' genetic ancestry to Vanuatu.

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Petroglyphs and place: complex histories at four sites in New Britain

Cited by 2 publications

References 34 publications

Rock Art and (Re)Production of Narratives: A Cassowary Bone Dagger Stencil Perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Rock Art and (Re)Production of Narratives: A Cassowary Bone Dagger Stencil Perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Echoes of distant pasts? New Britain, Vanuatu and Felix Speiser

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