New Guinea archaeology

New Guinea is a fascinating place. Anthropologists have written reams about the quirky habits of living New Guineans. But the archaeology is also fascinating. Here’re some of the current research questions I’ve investigated in the published literature, spurred by research plans of friends in Papua New Guinea (the political entity inhabiting the eastern half of the island).

• when did modern humans arrive and when were succeeding waves of migration?
• how did social evolution play out there?
• what do we know about long-distance trading, both within New Guinea and beyond?
• what changes happened over time in subsistence patterns, and what do we know about plant and animal domestication?

Fun fact about New Guinea: it’s the second largest island in the world!