New Guinea Neolithic

Oceaniahorticulturalists
Map
expand_more Description

The New Guinea Neolithic tradition was ancestral to historic peoples living in highland New Guinea and dates from about 10,000 to 100 BP (8000 BC - AD 1900.) People lived in small, sedentary villages of about 50-100 people. Taro, yam and banana were grown in raised fields and terraces cross-cut with drainage ditches. Simple tools were used in food production. Pigs were domesticated by 6000 BP and became important in the diet. Ceramics and extensive trade developed around 2000 BP. The "big man" political system may have developed around this time, too.

Identifier
Region
  • Oceania
Subregion
  • Melanesia
Subsistence Type
  • horticulturalists
Samples
Countries
  • Indonesia
  • Papua New Guinea