New Papua New Guinea research solves archaeological mysteries

Date:
June 4, 2020
Source:
University of Otago
Summary:
New research which 'fills in the blanks' on what ancient Papuan New Guineans ate, and how they processed food, has ended decades-long speculation on tool use and food stables in the highlands of New Guinea several thousand years ago.


Findings from the "Joe's Garden" site in the Ivane Valley in the New Guinea highlands end several decades of academic speculation about what a formally manufactured mortar and other tools were used for, and shows a variety of once widely eaten starchy plants were processed in the area.

Report co-author and University of Otago Archaeology Professor Glenn Summerhayes says the research means several archaeological "mysteries have finally been solved."

"Although ground stone bowls, known as mortars, have been found throughout most of New Guinea, little was known of their function or age. Most have been found from surface collections or dug by in and re-used by locals while gardening. Only a couple had been excavated in archaeological contexts and their use was unknown. This paper presents the discovery of a mortar fragment excavated from the Ivane Valley of Papua New Guinea in contexts dated to four and a half thousand years ago."

Clinging to the stone tools recovered from the site are microscopic starch grains from tree nuts (Castanopsis acumeninatissma) and Pueraria labota (tuber), which were first proposed as common stables by researchers in the mid-1960s.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200604095639.htm