This review of the evidence for ear

This review of the evidence for early agriculture in New Guinea supported by new data from Kuk Swamp demonstrates that cultivation had begun there by at least 6950-6440 cal BP and probably much earlier. Contrary to previous ideas, the first farming in New Guinea was not owed to South-East Asia, but emerged independently in the Highlands. Indeed plants such as the banana were probably first domesticated in New Guinea and later diffused into the Asian continent.
Recent multi-disciplinary investigation shave filled out previous,largely speculative
chronologies of prehistoric plane exploitation(Harri s1995)and confirm previous
interpretations that agriculture arose independently in New Guinea (Table3.New multidisciplinary investigation sat Kuk have advanced previous interpretations of prehistoric plant
exploitation in the Highlands of New Guinea in two significant ways.

First, multi-disciplinary lines of evidence(including archaeological,archaeobotanical,
palaeo ecological and stratigraphic)show that agriculture was practiced in the Upper Wahgi
Valley byat least 6950-6440 cal BP and probably much earlier. The evidence for earlier plant
exploitation practice sat Kuki sin sufficientrobe definitive of agriculture,as previously claimed (Golson1977a:613-5,1991a;Golson&Hughes1980;Hope&GoLson1995:824). The timing of the emergence of agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea requires clarification
through greater interpretative resolution of the Phase 1 record at Kuk and the excavation of
additional sites with evidence of early Holocene plant exploitation. Second, agriculture may have emerged in the Highlands of New Guinea as opposed to the lowlands. Golson suggested that agriculture originated in rhelowlands and spreadwiih expand in g populations into the Highlands as climate same liorated at the beginning of the Holocene (Golson1991b:88-9;Hope&Golson1995:827-8). It is argued here that agriculture emerged from broad-spectrum plant exploitation practices in the Highlands which had enabled permanent occupation of the interior during the Lare Pleistocene.Glimatic (Late Pleistocene) and environmental(early tomid Holocene) for cing of existing plant exploitation practices ledr or hedeveiopment of more intervention is tand extensive strategies in the Highlands. Although the specific mechanisms remain uncertain,anincreasing focus 852 77 mDenham.SimonHaberle&CarolLentfer
on major sources of starch,including Colocasiarare and Eumusabananas, were central to the
emergence ofa griculture in the Highlands. Aswirha nearlier debate concerning arboriculture (compareKirch1989toSwadlingf frt/.
1991 and Yen 1996), agriculture in New Guinea was traditionally view edas being of South east
Asian origin(e.g.Sauer1952).The archaeological, archaeobotanical and palaeoecological
fmdingsat Kuk corroboratephyto geographic and genetic interpretations of independent
plant domestication in Melanesia and demonstrate that agriculture emerged in New Guinea
independently of any South-east Asian influence by at least 6950-6440calBP. Indeed,the
early Holocene Eumusa section banana sat Kuk solidify previous interpretations for the early
diffusion of domesticated plants from New Guinea and their subsequent influence on the
development of agriculture in Southeast Asia(DeLanghe&deMaret1999:378-82)and
Africa(Mbidaetal.2000,2001).Such fmdings open up new possibilities for interaction
between mainland South east Asia and New Guinea during the early and mid-Holocene(i.e.
prior ro Auscronesian dispersal into Indo-Malaysia and Melanesia)and require us to rethink
the origin sandspread of agriculture in the Pacific, South east Asia and beyond.

new evidence and revised interpretations of early agriculture in highland new guinea

Kuk Swamp is an archaeological site in New Guinea, that lies in the Wahgi Valley. It is the result of a former lake basin, filled by an alluvial fan or deposits of water-transported material. The Kuk creek must flow through the entirety of the fan to a catchment in the lower hills of the south region. Early channels that were created flowed this water past the reach of the fan. If these channels were to be blocked, as evidence suggests, it would turn into a swamp, diverting the water into smaller distributary channels. Evidence for early agricultural drainage systems was found here, beginning about 9,000 years ago. Features such as pits, postholes and runnels have been found at the site, which provide evidence for early agriculture. Such features are consistent with planting, digging and tethering of plants. Evidence has been found of irrigation draining ditches dating back to 9,000 years ago, with a number of plants including taro grown, at what would have been the edge of its cultivable limit in the highlands. These ditches can be divided into three types: major disposal channels, large field ditches, and small field ditches. The major disposal channels were built to divert water from the fan flowing south and direct them toward the northeast areas. The large and small field ditches are more uniform and surround the perimeter of the planting areas and then meet up with the major disposal channels. During this time, the people of Kuk Swamp transformed their landscape into an anthropogenic grassland suitable for agriculture.

During archaeological construction of the drainage channels artefacts were discovered including wooden digging sticks, a grindstone, and other small items. The ditches themselves were cleaned out and a small trench was dug to study the different layers of clay that have been used to construct the ditches. Different layers of clay used suggests and confirms different construction by previous people.

From 6,900 - 6,400 years ago further evidence has been found for the cultivation of bananas and sugar cane. Archaeologists have used archaeobotanical evidence to confirm the cultivation of bananas. Many banana phytoliths have been found in the cultivation plots of Kuk Swamp. Since bananas do not produce phytoliths in the same quantity and frequency as grass and other plants, researchers have been able to conclude that the abundance of banana phytoliths found in a managed grassed landscape between 6950 and 6550 years ago suggests deliberate planting.[1] The bananas grown at Kuk Swamp were Eumusa bananas, which stemmed the most significant and largest group of banana domesticates. This makes Kuk Swamp one of the earliest sites for the development of agriculture in the world.

In 2008, Kuk Swamp was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Once considered a "Neolithic backwater" by archaeologists, Papua New Guinea is emerging as one of the handful of places on Earth where agricultural practices developed independently from other cultures.

The evidence reported June 19 on the Science Express website by Tim Denham, an archaeologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues, may put an end to a long-standing debate on the origin of agriculture in the swampy highlands on the island nation.

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"People were definitely exploiting plants, including taro, at Kuk Swamp approximately 10,000 calendar years before present," said Denham. "There is then-evidence of banana cultivation from 6,950 to 6,440 calendar years before present."

Taro (Colcasia esculenta) is a tuber with edible leaves and starchy roots. It remains a staple in the Papua New Guinean diet today.

Prior to this discovery, many scientists regarded Papua New Guineans as passive recipients of domesticated plants and animals from Southeast Asia. But the dates for the rise of agriculture documented by Denham and colleagues predate the earliest known Southeast Asian influence by about 3,000 years.

Katharina Neumann, an archaeobotanist at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany, writes in a related Science perspective that "only a few regions were geographically suited to become the homelands of full agricultural systems. New Guinea seems to have been one of them."

Re-examination

Denham and colleagues base their conclusions about the gradual rise of Agriculture in Papua New Guinea on a re-examination of the Kuk Swamp excavation site in the Wahgi Valley.

The site was first investigated in 1966 with subsequent excavations in the 1970s, but the details of the finds were never fully published and the evidence for agricultural practices were inconclusive, said Denham.

"The most serious problem was the absence of any remains of the plants which had been hypothetically exploited," said Neumann. "This is for a large part due to preservation, like in other humid, tropical regions."

But Denham and colleagues were able to find plant residues in the soils and on stone tools. According to the analysis of these residues, the researchers conclude that the Papua New Guineans were indeed exploiting taro and banana.

The team also dated features consistent with the planting, digging, and tethering of plants and localized drainage systems to 10,000 years ago. Mounds constructed to plant water-intolerant plants such as bananas, sugarcane, and yams are dated to about 6,500 years ago.

Neumann said "careful documentation of the archaeological features with a large number of radiocarbon dates and recovery and identification of microscopic plant remains" allowed Denham and colleagues to document the gradual rise of agriculture in Papua New Guinea.

Denham described the agricultural setting of the Wahgi Valley at approximately 6,500 years ago as a valley floor carpeted in grasslands that were periodically burnt and the Kuk site itself as cleared plots perched on a wetland edge. On mounds constructed in the plots grew bananas, sugar cane, and yams. Taro would have filled the wetter ground between the mounds.

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