TY - JOUR
T1 - The roots of agriculture and arboriculture in New Guinea
T2 - Looking beyond Austronesian expansion, Neolithic packages and indigenous origins
AU - Denham, Tim
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - Agriculture and arboriculture in New Guinea, like many other aspects of material culture, are often characterized as either introduced by Austronesian language-speakers in the mid-Holocene or as earlier and independent developments by pre-existing Papuan language-speakers. I raise concerns with both interpretative tendencies, which have often yielded superficial regional histories that provide one-dimensional impressions of people, practices and places in the past. Drawing on my own archaeological research into early agriculture and arboriculture, I illustrate alternative possibilities for historical interpretation that do not over-emphasize the pre-Lapita isolation of New Guinea, but instead focus on regional interactions and mutual transformations of practice before, during and after the presumed arrival of Austronesian language-speakers in the region.
AB - Agriculture and arboriculture in New Guinea, like many other aspects of material culture, are often characterized as either introduced by Austronesian language-speakers in the mid-Holocene or as earlier and independent developments by pre-existing Papuan language-speakers. I raise concerns with both interpretative tendencies, which have often yielded superficial regional histories that provide one-dimensional impressions of people, practices and places in the past. Drawing on my own archaeological research into early agriculture and arboriculture, I illustrate alternative possibilities for historical interpretation that do not over-emphasize the pre-Lapita isolation of New Guinea, but instead focus on regional interactions and mutual transformations of practice before, during and after the presumed arrival of Austronesian language-speakers in the region.
KW - Agriculture
KW - Arboriculture
KW - Austronesian expansion
KW - Indigenous origins
KW - Neolithic package
KW - New Guinea
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=11044234278&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0043824042000303791
DO - 10.1080/0043824042000303791
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:11044234278
SN - 0043-8243
VL - 36
SP - 610
EP - 620
JO - World Archaeology
JF - World Archaeology
IS - 4
ER -