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New evidence and revised interpretations of early agriculture in Highland New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Tim Denham ,
Simon Haberle  and
Carol Lentfer
Tim Denham
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, School of Humanities, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia. (Email: Tim.Denham@flinders.edu.au)
Simon Haberle
Affiliation:
Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. (Email: Simon.Haberle@anu.edu.au)
Carol Lentfer
Affiliation:
Centre for Geoarchaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Research, School of Environmental Science and Management, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia (Email: clentfer@scu.edu.au)
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Abstract

This review of the evidence for early agriculture in New Guinea supported by new data from Kuk Swamp demonstrates that cultivation had begun there by at least 6950–6440 cal BP and probably much earlier. Contrary to previous ideas, the first farming in New Guinea was not owed to SouthEast Asia, but emerged independently in the Highlands. Indeed plants such as the banana were probably first domesticated in New Guinea and later diffused into the Asian continent.

Keywords

Mid-HoloceneNew Guinea HighlandsagricultureMusa bananas
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 78 , Issue 302 , December 2004 , pp. 839 - 857
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

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