Quarrying in a tribal society

Abstract

The organisation of a recently used stone axe factory in the Papua New Guinea highlands is examined with respect to the concept of chiefdoms and the emergence of centralised societies in the archaeological record. The case of the Tungei illustrates the fact that acephalous tribal societies can mobilise a large workforce for co‐operative, economic ventures. It is shown that a well‐suited ideology helped a great deal to prevent the quarrying effort from becoming fragmented and that leadership involved direction rather than command.

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