THE SEPULCHRAL POTTERY OF NUAMATA ISLAND, PAPUA

Abstract

/^USTOMS relating to the disposal of the dead vary throughout New Guinea. ^^ Ethnographers have described many of these mortuary practices and associated them with living cultures. Until recently, archaeologists working in New Guinea have had little to offer in terms of documenting prehistoric burial customs. Within the last two years prehistoric burial complexes have been discovered at Cape Rodney on the south coast of Papua (F. J. Allen, pers. comm.) and on Nuamata Island in the northern D'Entrecasteaux Islands (Map i). A distinctive feature of these sites is the presence of ceramic vessels which contain human skeletal remains. Sepulchral pottery has a limited distribution in New Guinea. It appears to have its highest frequency of occurrence on the small islands at the south-eastern tip of Papua, within the area referred to as the Massim. Prior to the discovery of the burial complex at Cape Rodney, sepulchral pottery was limited to a few widely dispersed islands within the Massim. The Cape Rodney material is the first of its kind to be reported from coastal Papua, and it is particularly significant in this respect. On the other hand, the recently discovered Nuamata burial complex is located within the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, an area where extensive research into the nature of the traditional and prehistoric ceramic industries has been conducted.

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