Mask Cave: Red‐slipped pottery and the Australian‐Papuan settlement of Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait)

Abstract

Abstract Excavations at Mask Cave on the sacred islet of Pulu off Mabuyag in the central west of Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait) reveal four occupational phases: Phase 1 (2900–3800 years ago), Phase 2 (2100–2600 years ago), Phase 3 (1500–1700 years ago) and Phase 4 (last 1500 years). Faunal remains indicate marine specialization (turtle and fish) during all phases. Petrographic analysis of sherds of finely made red‐slipped pottery dating back 2400–2600 years reveals a unique fabric in terms of current understandings of Oceanic ceramic technologies. Mineral inclusions are consistent with local geology suggesting local manufacture and the existence of Indigenous Australia's first pottery tradition. Pre‐ceramic Phase 1 is associated with demographic expansions across the western islands of Zenadh Kes by local populations of marine‐based hunter‐gatherers who were primarily Aboriginal language speakers. Phase 2 is associated with the immigration of Papuan maritime, horticultural and pottery‐making peoples to the eastern and western islands of Zenadh Kes commencing 2600 years ago. Australian then Papuan settlement expansions across the western islands of Zenadh Kes explain why the local Western‐Central Language has an Aboriginal base with a Papuan overlay. First colonization of the eastern islands by Papuans explains why the local Meriam Mìr language is Papuan. Early red‐slipped pottery in Zenadh Kes is linked to southern coastal Papuan pottery traditions that are reassessed to have a comparable 2600 year antiquity. Papuan settlement of the southern Papuan coast and Zenadh Kes was an extension of the post‐Lapita settlement of the Pacific, an event memorialized in part by Torres Strait Islander oral tradition.