Chris Urwin , Lara Lamb , Robert Skelly , Joshua A. Bell , Teppsy Beni , Matthew Leavesley , Bruno David , Henry Arifeae
{"title":"Rethinking agency in hiri exchange relationships on Papua New Guinea’s south coast: Oral traditions and archaeology","authors":"Chris Urwin , Lara Lamb , Robert Skelly , Joshua A. Bell , Teppsy Beni , Matthew Leavesley , Bruno David , Henry Arifeae","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2022.101484","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The maritime <em>hiri</em> exchange system spanned up to 350 km of Papua New Guinea’s south coast, connecting ceramicist Motu with Papuan Gulf villagers who produced large quantities of sago palm (<em>Metroxylon sagu</em>) starch and rainforest logs. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence for the development of the <em>hiri</em> derives mostly from the Motu end of the exchange system. As a result, the Motu are often typecast as adventurous protagonists and Papuan Gulf peoples as passive “recipients” of specialised trade goods (pottery and shell valuables). We trace historical understandings of the <em>hiri</em> and outline the dynamic transformations that took place in this exchange network from the early colonial era to the mid-1950s. We introduce oral traditions recorded in Orokolo Bay in 2015 and ethnography from nearby communities which provide a Papuan Gulf lens through which to see the exchange network. Papuan Gulf peoples assert that their ancestors initiated the <em>hiri</em> in the cosmological past and helped maintain it through reverse-<em>hiri</em> (<em>bevaia</em>) voyages in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Inter-generational exchange partnerships were cultivated and sometimes cemented through temporary adoption. We conclude by drawing out some under-appreciated social dimensions of the <em>hiri</em>’s history and avenues for future research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416522000927","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
The maritime hiri exchange system spanned up to 350 km of Papua New Guinea’s south coast, connecting ceramicist Motu with Papuan Gulf villagers who produced large quantities of sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) starch and rainforest logs. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence for the development of the hiri derives mostly from the Motu end of the exchange system. As a result, the Motu are often typecast as adventurous protagonists and Papuan Gulf peoples as passive “recipients” of specialised trade goods (pottery and shell valuables). We trace historical understandings of the hiri and outline the dynamic transformations that took place in this exchange network from the early colonial era to the mid-1950s. We introduce oral traditions recorded in Orokolo Bay in 2015 and ethnography from nearby communities which provide a Papuan Gulf lens through which to see the exchange network. Papuan Gulf peoples assert that their ancestors initiated the hiri in the cosmological past and helped maintain it through reverse-hiri (bevaia) voyages in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Inter-generational exchange partnerships were cultivated and sometimes cemented through temporary adoption. We conclude by drawing out some under-appreciated social dimensions of the hiri’s history and avenues for future research.
期刊介绍:
An innovative, international publication, the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology is devoted to the development of theory and, in a broad sense, methodology for the systematic and rigorous understanding of the organization, operation, and evolution of human societies. The discipline served by the journal is characterized by its goals and approach, not by geographical or temporal bounds. The data utilized or treated range from the earliest archaeological evidence for the emergence of human culture to historically documented societies and the contemporary observations of the ethnographer, ethnoarchaeologist, sociologist, or geographer. These subjects appear in the journal as examples of cultural organization, operation, and evolution, not as specific historical phenomena.