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.
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.