Tropical Foodways and Exchange along the Coastal Margin of Northeastern New Guinea

Abstract

New Guinea was host to some of the most complex maritime interaction networks in the tropics. We take a multi-proxy approach to investigate the foodways at the heart of the extensive Madang exchange network in the last millennium before the present: 1) invertebrate zooarchaeological analysis identifies the dependence on shellfish collecting from the coral reef and sandy floor littoral zone; 2) examination of vertebrate remains demonstrates the rearing and consumption of key domesticated animals (pigs and perhaps dogs), alongside reef fish, birds, and possibly snakes; 3) human dental calculus analysis distinguishes that marine plants, palm, betelnut, and probably banana were consumed; 4) pottery residue analysis suggests that a variety of starchy crops were being cooked in locally made ceramics. We use this information to develop interpretations about the nature of land-use, mobility, and exchange along New Guinea’s coastal fringe, as well as how foodways have transformed throughout the Late Holocene.