TY - JOUR
T1 - Emergence of a Neolithic in highland New Guinea by 5000 to 4000 years ago
AU - Shaw, Ben
AU - Field, Judith H.
AU - Summerhayes, Glenn R.
AU - Coxe, Simon
AU - Coster, Adelle C.F.
AU - Ford, Anne
AU - Haro, Jemina
AU - Arifeae, Henry
AU - Hull, Emily
AU - Jacobsen, Geraldine
AU - Fullagar, Richard
AU - Hayes, Elspeth
AU - Kealhofer, Lisa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - The emergence of agriculture was one of the most notable behavioral transformations in human history, driving innovations in technologies and settlement globally, referred to as the Neolithic. Wetland agriculture originated in the New Guinea highlands during the mid-Holocene (8000 to 4000 years ago), yet it is unclear if there was associated behavioral change. Here, we report the earliest figurative stone carving and formally manufactured pestles in Oceania, dating to 5050 to 4200 years ago. These discoveries, at the highland site of Waim, occur with the earliest planilateral axe-adzes in New Guinea, the first evidence for fibercraft, and interisland obsidian transfer. The combination of symbolic social systems, complex technologies, and highland agricultural intensification supports an independent emergence of a Neolithic ~1000 years before the arrival of Neolithic migrants (Lapita) from Southeast Asia.
AB - The emergence of agriculture was one of the most notable behavioral transformations in human history, driving innovations in technologies and settlement globally, referred to as the Neolithic. Wetland agriculture originated in the New Guinea highlands during the mid-Holocene (8000 to 4000 years ago), yet it is unclear if there was associated behavioral change. Here, we report the earliest figurative stone carving and formally manufactured pestles in Oceania, dating to 5050 to 4200 years ago. These discoveries, at the highland site of Waim, occur with the earliest planilateral axe-adzes in New Guinea, the first evidence for fibercraft, and interisland obsidian transfer. The combination of symbolic social systems, complex technologies, and highland agricultural intensification supports an independent emergence of a Neolithic ~1000 years before the arrival of Neolithic migrants (Lapita) from Southeast Asia.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082449814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aay4573
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aay4573
M3 - Article
SN - 2375-2548
VL - 6
JO - Science advances
JF - Science advances
IS - 13
M1 - eaay4573
ER -