Australian Museum Journal From Misisil Cave to Eliva Hamlet: rediscovering the Pleistocene in interior West New Britain. In A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht
- Shortform:
- Pavlides, 2004, Rec. Aust. Mus., Suppl. 29: 97–108
- Author(s):
- Pavlides, Christina
- Year published:
- 2004
- Title:
- From Misisil Cave to Eliva Hamlet: rediscovering the Pleistocene in interior West New Britain. In A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht
- Serial title:
- Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement
- Volume:
- 29
- Start page:
- 97
- End page:
- 108
- DOI:
- 10.3853/j.0812-7387.29.2004.1406
- Language:
- English
- Date published:
- 19 May 2004
- Cover date:
- 19 May 2004
- ISBN:
- ISBN 0-9750476-2-0 (printed), ISBN 0-9750476-3-9 (online)
- ISSN:
- 0812-7387
- CODEN:
- RAMSEZ
- Publisher:
- The Australian Museum
- Place published:
- Sydney, Australia
- Subjects:
- ARCHAEOLOGY; NEW BRITAIN
- Digitized:
- 19 May 2004
- Available online:
- 19 May 2004
- Reference number:
- 1406
- EndNote package:
- EndNote file
- Title page:
- Title page (11kb PDF)
- Complete work:
- Complete work (383kb PDF)
Abstract
The potential for archaeological evidence of Pleistocene activity to exist in West New Britain was first realized by Jim Specht. More recent work in Specht's research region of Yombon reveals intriguing archaeological data which demonstrate the organized utilization of rainforest resources as early as 35,500 years ago. The early colonists of the Bismarck Archipelago were versatile hunter-gatherers able to move beyond the coastal island fringes of Melanesia and harness important economic and lithic resources deep within the lowland rainforests.