Human ecology and cultural variation in prehistoric New Guinea

Abstract

The use of climate periods as a framework for interpreting the archaeological record emphasizes the association between the processes of change in climate and vegetation and those in human ecology and technology. Four major climatic periods for prehistoric Papua New Guinea are discussed. During the final glacial period, use of highland areas appears to coincide with temperature increases, suggesting that Pleistocene hunter-gatherers were primarily coastal and riverine moving to higher elevations during warmer seasons. Earliest evidence of specialized montane adaptations occurs during the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene. The early Holocene period of warmer, wetter climate appears to have been a time of population and settlement changes; as in earlier periods, most occupation evidence occurs in the Highlands where agricultural sites and technological changes are documented. The post 5000 BP period of modern climate is one of marked adaptive change and agricultural diversification. (NS)