Trees to the sky : prehistoric hunting in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Date
2004
Authors
Leavesley, Matthew G.
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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the nature of prehistoric hunting strategies in New Ireland, Papua
New Guinea. New Ireland contains the earliest radiocarbon determinations for human
occupation and therefore provides an opportunity to investigate colonisation. It also has a
depauperate fauna compared to New Guinea and therefore provides an opportunity to investigate
subsequent human adaptations. Hunting strategies are investigated through an analysis of the
Buang Merabak faunal assemblage. The Buang Merabak assemblage contains prehistoric food
refuse including shell and bone midden material and stone artefacts. The results of the faunal
analysis are interpreted to investigate issues of resource use, land use and mobility. Resource use
is reflected through prey selectivity and provides the opportunity to investigate the nature of
hunting specialisation as a mechanism of adaptation.
Prey taxa have discrete ecological requirements that are the parameters of their spatial
distribution across the island. Notions of human land use are reflected through the spatial
distribution of the prey taxa and are interpreted as a reflection of both on site and off site
activities. In order to exploit each particular taxon the hunter must interact with the prey within
the prey's environment. Therefore within the hunting context, human land use is reflected by the
prey they capture and bring back to the site.
Mobility is reflected through resource use and land use. The spatial distribution of the prey taxa
reflects the distance the hunter must cover in order to capture the prey and return to the site. In
this context, mobility is notionally a relative scale that rates the degree of movement required to
exploit the resources reflected in the assemblage. The results are brought together to suggest a
New Ireland specific model of behaviour that can be tested against further research.
This dissertation argues that terrestrial faunas such as Dobsonia sp. bats and the Phalanger
orienta/is were an important aspect of the Late-Pleistocene subsistence economy in New Ireland.
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