Exploring Ceremony: The Archaeology of a Men's Meeting House (‘Kod’) on Mabuyag, Western Torres Strait
Date
2016
Authors
Wright, Duncan
Stephenson, Birgitta
Taçon, Paul S.C.
Williams, Robert N.
Fogel, Aaron
Sutton, Shannon
Ulm, Sean
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
The materiality of ritual performance is a growing focus for archaeologists. In Europe, collective ritual performance is expected to be highly structured and to leave behind a loud
archaeological signature. In Australia and Papua New Guinea, ritual is highly structured;
however, material signatures for performance are not always apparent, with ritual frequently bound up in the surrounding natural and cultural landscape. One way of assessing long-term ritual in this context is by using archaeology to historicize ethno-historical
and ethnographic accounts. Examples of this in the Torres Strait region, islands between
Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia, suggest that ritual activities were materially
inscribed at kod sites (ceremonial men’s meeting places) through distribution of clan fireplaces, mounds of stone/bone and shell. This paper examines the structure of Torres Strait
ritual for a site ethnographically reputed to be the ancestral kod of the Mabuyag Islanders.
Intra-site partitioning of ritual performance is interpreted using ethnography, rock art and
the divergent distribution of surface and sub-surface materials (including microscopic analysis of dugong bone and lithic material) across the site. Finally, it discusses the materiality
of ritual at a boundary zone between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and the
extent to which archaeology provides evidence for Islander negotiation through ceremony
of external incursions.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
CC BY-NC-ND
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description