Paleoclimate data and behavioral change in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

Summary

Climate variability generates both opportunities and limitations for subsistence strategies, as well as related settlement patterns and technologies. While not the only driver of behavioral change, climate is a critical force in shaping patterns of past behavior. This paper presents the results of lithic analysis of three sites from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea that span 20,000 years of occupation. Additionally, the findings from a summed probability distribution analysis of radiocarbon dates and site types are presented. These lines of archaeological evidence are combined with paleoclimate data to construct a robust explanation linking changes in precipitation to changes in site use, subsistence strategies, and related technologies in the highlands of New Guinea from the terminal Pleistocene through the Holocene. Changes in precipitation in the form of general climate trends or changes in the intensity and frequency of ENSO are found to be more closely linked to changes in the archaeological record than ecological changes recorded in the palynological record, or a generic demic expansion model.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15260