Stemmed Tools, Social Interaction, and Voyaging in Early–Mid Holocene Papua New Guinea

Abstract

To assess the proposal that the widespread distribution of early–mid Holocene obsidian stemmed tools in Papua New Guinea signifies wide ranging social networks, studies of their morphology, technology, and geochemical composition were conducted. It is argued that strong similarities in technology and form of artifacts made from both Manus and New Britain obsidians and their characterization to only one sub-source in each region indicate significant social interaction between these two island groups. Away from the obsidian sources, stemmed tools made from local raw material as well as imported obsidian suggest knowledge and practices were also distributed through a series of overlapping social networks. Long-distance voyaging to confirm and enhance status might explain the far-flung distribution of some tools. The new data about stemmed tool production on Manus and the early use of the Umleang-Umrei sub-source highlight the importance of further research in that region.

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