Prehistoric stone artefacts from Enga and the implication of links between the highlands, lowlands and islands for early agriculture in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Two of the unanswered questions of Papua New Guinea prehistory are: (1) whether agriculture was present in the mid-Holocene not only in the highlands but also in the lowlands and Bismarck Archipelago and (2) whether the presence of agriculture might have been influenced by interaction between these regions. This paper addresses these questions through an analysis of prehistoric stone mortars, pestles and figures, which hold information on both style and function.