Feasting and Concentrated Pottery Production in East Cape, Papua New Guinea

Summary

East Cape, the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea mainland, is one of the pottery production areas in southern Massim. Domestic pottery production has continued to the present day, mainly made by female potters to supply their own needs. However, more extensive pottery production beyond the household level occasionally occurs, especially when funerals (toleha) are held. Toleha are organized by the matrilineal descent group (guguni) of a dead person; the potters who belong the descent group get together and make the large amount of pottery used for feasting. In addition, any surplus pottery is traded with people of surrounding islands for foods served in the feast through local exchange called kidoko. The feast-associated pottery production for toleha, and local exchange are complementary. On the other hand, the pottery produced for toleha have strong stylistic similarity caused by the same technique shared with the potters. Here, I focus on the toleha pottery production system, and discuss the social linkage between stylistic similarity and the structure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Feasts and Ritual Structures: Ethnoarchaelogical and Archaeological Perspectives

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17010