The chronology of Popo, an ancestral village site in Orokolo Bay, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT

Cultural research at Orokolo Bay (PNG) has long focussed on elaborate social-ceremonial practice and maritime exchange (hiri). Previously the chronology of settlement was based on a single radiocarbon determination of 410 ± 80 BP from Popo village. Today, Popo is an important village site along an ancestral migration route for clan groups living up to 125 km to the east. This paper presents archaeological results of a recent excavation at Popo, undertaken near the location of Rhoads’ earlier investigations in 1976. A statistically modelled chronology based on six newly obtained radiocarbon dates reveals occupation for this part of Popo between 13 and 455 cal. BP. These new results enable us to understand better the chronological history of this part of Orokolo Bay.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronology
• bayesian
• melanesia
• hiri
• migration village

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Kaivakovu and Larihairu village communities for hosting and facilitating our research in Orokolo Bay in 2015 (particularly for their ongoing support of CU’s PhD research). We also acknowledge crucial logistical support afforded to us by the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery and the Archaeology Laboratory of the University of Papua New Guinea. Finally, thanks to Bruno David for his helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this paper, and to Ursula Pietrzak for supervising CU’s sediment analyses.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This field work was funded by Bruno David. Dating of the site was funded by an AINSE Research Award [AINGRA 16006] awarded to Bruno David, CU and RJS. The study received financial support from the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) for the Centre for Accelerator Science at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. CU’s research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.