A New Ceramic Assemblage from Caution Bay, South Coast of Mainland PNG: the Linear Shell Edge-Impressed Tradition from Bogi 1

Abstract

This paper reports on the ceramics from Squares A and B of Bogi 1, a newly excavated site at Caution Bay, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. A dense cultural horizon dated from c. 2150 to c. 2100 calBP and preceded by earlier cultural deposits contains previously undescribed ceramics of limited decorative variability almost exclusively focused on Anadara shell edge impressions below finger-grooved lips, which we term the Linear Shell Edge-Impressed Tradition. Here we present the chrono-stratigraphic evidence for this decorative tradition and how it relates to previously de- scribed shell-impressed ceramics from the broader region.