Building and Remembering: An Archaeology of Place-Making on Papua New Guinea's South Coast (Pacific Islands Archaeology)

__Building and Remembering__ is a multidisciplinary study of how memory works in relation to the material past. Based on collaborative ethnoarchaeological research carried out in Orokolo Bay (Papua New Guinea), Chris Urwin explores oral traditions maintained and produced in relation to artifacts and stratigraphy. He shows how cultivation and construction bring people from Orokolo Bay into regular contact with pottery sherds and thin layers of black sand. Both the pottery and the sand are forms of material evidence that remind people of the movements and activities of their ancestors, and they help sustain stories of origins and connections. The sherds remind people of the layout of their ancestors’ villages, and of the annual maritime visits by Motu people who came from 400 km to the east. The black sand evokes events of the distant past when their ancestors created the land through magic. Villagers in Orokolo Bay have intimate knowledge of the contents of the subsurface, and places where people work and dig more regularly are thought of as especially ancient. Here, people conduct their own form of “archaeology” as part of everyday life. This book interweaves such community constructions of the past with the emergence of large coastal villages in Orokolo Bay and across a broader span of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. The villages housed dense populations and hosted elaborate masked ceremonies that could span decades. When Sir Albert Maori Kiki—the former Deputy Prime Minister—moved to Orokolo Bay in the mid-1930s, he was mesmerized by the place, which appeared like “a modern metropolis . . . buzzing with noise and activity.” Yet little is known of when these villages originated or how they developed. In this book archaeological digs and radiocarbon dating are used to gain insight into how several Orokolo Bay sites developed, focusing on the key origin and migration village of Popo. Village elders share their understandings of ancestral places during surveys and through oral traditions. People lived in Popo for some five hundred years, moving to, through, and from the estates, expanding and at times shifting the village to access the social and subsistence benefits of coastal village life. "Building and Remembering is a multidisciplinary study of how memory works in relation to the material past. Based on collaborative ethnoarchaeological research carried out in Orokolo Bay (Papua New Guinea), Chris Urwin explores oral traditions maintained and produced in relation to artifacts and stratigraphy. He shows how cultivation and construction bring people from Orokolo Bay into regular contact with pottery sherds and thin layers of black sand. Both the pottery and the sand are forms of material evidence that remind people of the movements and activities of their ancestors, and they help sustain stories of origins and connections. The sherds remind people of the layout of their ancestors' villages, and of the annual maritime visits by Motu people who came from 400 km to the east. The black sand evokes events of the distant past when their ancestors created the land through magic. Villagers in Orokolo Bay have intimate knowledge of the contents of the subsurface, and places where people work and dig more regularly are thought of as especially ancient. Here, people conduct their own form of "archaeology" as part of everyday life. This book interweaves such community constructions of the past with the emergence of large coastal villages in Orokolo Bay and across a broader span of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. The villages housed dense populations and hosted elaborate masked ceremonies that could span decades. When Sir Albert Maori Kiki--the former Deputy Prime Minister--moved to Orokolo Bay in the mid-1930s, he was mesmerized by the place, which appeared like "a modern metropolis ... buzzing with noise and activity." Yet little is known of when these villages originated or how they developed. In this book archaeological digs and radiocarbon dating are used to gain insight into how several Orokolo Bay sites developed, focusing on the key origin and migration village of Popo. Village elders share their understandings of ancestral places during surveys and through oral traditions. People lived in Popo for some five hundred years, moving to, through, and from the estates, expanding and at times shifting the village to access the social and subsistence benefits of coastal village life"-- Provided by publisher

Building and Remembering is a multidisciplinary study of howmemory works in relation to the material past. Based oncollaborative ethnoarchaeological research carried out in OrokoloBay (Papua New Guinea), Chris Urwin explores oral traditionsmaintained and produced in relation to artifacts and stratigraphy.He shows how cultivation and construction bring people from OrokoloBay into regular contact with pottery sherds and thin layers ofblack sand. Both the pottery and the sand are forms of materialevidence that remind people of the movements and activities oftheir ancestors, and they help sustain stories of origins andconnections. The sherds remind people of the layout of theirancestors' villages, and of the annual maritime visits by Motupeople who came from 400 km to the east. The black sand evokesevents of the distant past when their ancestors created the landthrough magic. Villagers in Orokolo Bay have intimate knowledge ofthe contents of the subsurface, and places where people work anddig more regularly are thought of as especially ancient. Here,people conduct their own form of "archaeology" as part of everydaylife. This book interweaves such community constructions of thepast with the emergence of large coastal villages in Orokolo Bayand across a broader span of the south coast of Papua New Guinea.The villages housed dense populations and hosted elaborate maskedceremonies that could span decades. When Sir Albert Maori Kiki-theformer Deputy Prime Minister-moved to Orokolo Bay in the mid-1930s,he was mesmerized by the place, which appeared like "a modernmetropolis . . . buzzing with noise and activity." Yet little isknown of when these villages originated or how they developed. Inthis book, archaeological digs and radiocarbon dating are used togain insight into how several Orokolo Bay sites developed, focusingon the key origin and migration village of Popo. Village eldersshare their understandings of ancestral places during surveys andthrough oral traditions. People lived in Popo for some five hundredyears, moving to, through, and from the estates, expanding and attimes shifting the village to access the social and subsistencebenefits of coastal village life.

Contents Acknowledgments Orthography and Conventions 1 Introduction 2 A Social History of Orokolo Bay 3 Archaeologies of the Gulf of Papua and Beyond 4 Building, Dwelling, and Remembering Place 5 An Ethnography of Ancestral Place in Orokolo Bay 6 Central Popo: The Popo Uku and Marea Ita Estates 7 “Surrounding Sites” The Maivipi and Miruka Estates 8 Expanding Westward: The Aitae Hiru and Koavaipi Estates 9 Bookends of Popo: Mak’Aki and Mirimua Mapoe 10 Understanding Place-Making in Orokolo Bay through Archaeological Chronologies 11 Memory at Work in Orokolo Bay 12 Memory Transformed Appendix: Description of Methods Used in This Study References Index About the Author