Obsidian from the Jacquinot Bay area, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea.

Jim Specht; Jason Kariwiga; Anne Ford

doi:10.70460/jpa.v9i2.254

Authors

Jim Specht Senior Fellow in Archaeology and Geosciences Australian Museum Sydney Honorary Associate Department of Archaeology University of Sydney Australia
Jason Kariwiga Department of Archaeology, University of Papua New Guinea
Anne Ford Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70460/jpa.v9i2.254

Abstract

The paper describes the analysis by portable XRF (pXRF) of 44 pieces of obsidian from six archaeological sites around Jacquinot Bay in the Pomio District of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. One piece is possibly from a middle Lapita pottery context, but the remainder are undated but almost certainly post-Lapita in age. The pXRF analysis attributes all pieces to New Britain sources: 41 from Mopir and 3 from Willaumez Peninsula. The dominance of the Mopir source supports a relatively late date for the obsidian’s arrival in the Jacquinot Bay area. When considered in relation to a stemmed obsidian tool from Pakia village inland to the north of Jacquinot Bay, the results suggest that future work in this region area may feed into wider discussions on the control of resources and the social function of obsidian in the Papua New Guinea island provinces

Author Biography

Jim Specht, Senior Fellow in Archaeology and Geosciences Australian Museum Sydney Honorary Associate Department of Archaeology University of Sydney Australia

Archaeology and Geosciences section, Senior Fellow (retired), Australian Museum, Sydney; and Honorary Associate, Department of Archaeology, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney