Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10125/29084
Mid-Holocene Social Interaction in Melanesia: New Evidence from Hammer-Dressed Obsidian Stemmed Tools
File | Size | Format | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
AP_V48No1_torrence.pdf | 10.87 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Item Summary
Title: | Mid-Holocene Social Interaction in Melanesia: New Evidence from Hammer-Dressed Obsidian Stemmed Tools |
Authors: | Torrence, Robin Swadling, Pamela Kononenko, Wallace Ambrose Rath, Pip Glascock, Michael D. |
Keywords: | Melanesia, Pacific archaeology stone tools obsidian hammer-dressing characterization show 3 morePIXE-PIGME LA/ICPMS instrumental neutron activation analysis show less |
LC Subject Headings: | Prehistoric peoples--Asia--Periodicals. Prehistoric peoples--Oceania--Periodicals. Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals. Oceania--Antiquities--Periodicals. East Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals. |
Date Issued: | 2009 |
Publisher: | University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu) |
Series: | Volume 48 Number 1 |
Abstract: | The widespread distribution in Papua New Guinea of obsidian stemmed tools dated to the mid-Holocene has led scholars to postulate the existence of large interaction spheres. A newly reported artifact from Biak Island, West Papua provides the stimulus for reconsidering the role of this tool type in regional social interaction. The tool was hammer-dressed, a technique unknown for obsidian flaked tools elsewhere in the world and only rarely applied to obsidian artifacts in Melanesia. This new find closely resembles hammer-dressed obsidian stemmed tools from Garua Island, Papua New Guinea, but these are characterized by LA/ICPMS, PIXE-PGME, and INAA to the local Baki and Kutau-Bao obsidian sources in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, whereas the Biak tool is sourced to outcrops on Lou Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. Hypotheses for functional, symbolic, and social roles of hammer-dressing are explored and evaluated on the basis of replication experiments and use-wear analyses. We argue that the complex and exceptionally rare technologies used for manufacturing hammer-dressed stemmed tools and applied to obsidian acquired from two widely separated obsidian sources substantially add to previous evidence for wide-scale social interaction during the mid-Holocene. The existence of these social networks might also have provided a mechanism for the rapid, extensive spread of innovations like Austronesian languages or Lapita pottery. |
Pages/Duration: | 30 pages |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10125/29084 |
ISSN: | 0066-8435 (Print) 1535-8283 (E-ISSN) |
Rights: | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ |
Appears in Collections: |
Asian Perspectives, 2009 - Volume 48, Number 1 (Spring) |
Please email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License