MODELING PAST AND PRESENT IN THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA: SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL J. David Cole Research Affiliate, The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington Email: [email protected] K.J. Pataki-Schweizer Research Affiliate, The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington Email: [email protected] or their way of life. In the words of R.I. Skinner SUPPLEMENT 1: CONTACT HISTORY IN (1947–48): THE PROJECT AREA Most of the area visited on this patrol had not For purposes of perspective in considering the been previously visited. Several parties had simulations presented in this report and for un- passed through the Awka-Kasokana, includ- derstanding the increase in population growth in ing Patrol Officer G. F. Neilsen, when pro- the historical period for the study area, it is use- ceeding to Papua during 1943 (approximate- ful to consider its contact history. In the pages ly). Mr. K. F. Ubank also passed through this that follow, we discuss contact history south of area on his way from Kainantu to Papua. Mr. the Eastern Highland’s major basins in terms of F. H. Moy visited the Upper Lamari about four remote regions (see Figure 2, main text): 1937. ... C. R. Croft also visited the northern South Tairora from Suwaira to its boundary Head of the Lamari in 1937 or 1938 and the zone with Awa in the lower Lamari Valley; the route of this patrol followed the same track Auyana basin and uplands from the Kratke as that taken by Croft when crossing from the Range near Nori’arunda in the north to Indona Upper Lamari to the Nompia Area [North near Okapa in the South; Awa extending from Tairora basin]. the western edge of South Tairora to the Pubu- The Skinner patrol was the first postwar ven- ramba River on the southwestern edge of Auy- ana; and Fore. These areas were contacted and ture into the project area. Originating in Kain- developed after World War II, well after the antu, it was routed through Kamano to Fore on northern basins were explored and developed by the lower west side of the project area and pro- missionaries, prospectors, and the Australian ceeded south along the west bank of the Pubu- administration. ramba River, which it crossed at Ilesa near The historic period in this region begins in Tauna. The patrol visited Irakia for one day be- the late 1930s (approximately 1937–1938). At fore continuing northeast to Baira in South Tai- that time, a number of administration explorers rora and then to Nompia and Kainantu. Skin- passed through the area on their way to the Gulf ner’s mission in Awa was to investigate reports Province, and steel tools became available to of a salt source in or near Irakia. He found that South Tairora in significant quantities through reports of a salt cave or mine were false and that trade with Austronesian people who occupy the the people of Awa and South Tairora traded salt valley of the Waffa River, a tributary of the from Anga language speakers known widely in Markham River to the east more than 1400 me- South Tairora and Awa as “Imaani.” The Imaani ters below the Lamari Valley. Even in 1938, occupy the southern side of the Aziana River, contact was transitory, and there is little evi- which joins the Lamari near Mobuta. dence of its impact on the people of the Lamari Boyd, who studied the economy and subsis- tence of the Irakia bounded complex in 1971– JOURNAL OF INDO-PACIFIC ARCHAEOLOGY 44(2020):415–427 1972 and subsequent revisits, was told by in- sumably other Awa bounded complexes within formants that when Skinner arrived, “adult men the memory of older informants in 1972. They took refuge on the opposite side of a distant all came to Awa through Tauna from Auyana mountain” (Boyd 1975:43). Skinner (1947) re- over “traditional trade routes,” presumably ported that the men who remained were “nerv- through Norai’arunda from North Tairora and ous, although friendly” and the “Lamari River through Fore to the West from Kamano (Rob- villages are under no degree of control”. There- bins 1982). after, only three government patrols visited In 1963 the first group of young men was in- Irakia between 1947 and 1953. According to ducted into the Highlands Labour Scheme and Boyd, the first steel axe in Irakia was purchased marshalled in Goroka, where they were staged from one of these patrols in 1949 or 1951 for and used for town cleaning before being flown the price of a large pig. The patrol officers in to the coast to work on plantations. Cole (pers. charge of these patrols also noted that “such in- obs.) had occasion to meet many recruits from frequent contacts by the government were various parts of the highlands and observed that unlikely to extend the knowledge of, or adher- the first Awa group of about 40 individuals, ence to, the Pax Australiana” (Boyd 1975:43). many from Mobuta, were the most truculent and Beginning in 1953, the government intensified uncooperative of any similar Highlands Labour its patrols, and between September 1953 and Scheme group he worked with in Goroka over a September 1972, at least 13 patrols from Kain- period of 21 months in 1962–1963. antu and Okapa either visited Irakia specifically In 1961 a Lutheran Kamano lay missionary or passed nearby on their way to Awa and Barua was stationed in Tauna but left in 1962 when villages on the Aziana River. In June of 1954, a fighting broke out with the Iyona bounded com- group of Irakia men visited the Okapa Patrol plex, and all lay missionaries were withdrawn Post, a walk of approximately nine to ten hours, from the area by their supervisors (Boyd and one of their party stayed at the station to 1975:51). Since Boyd’s research in 1971–72, learn Tok Pisin, the New Guinea lingua franca. Irakia lost nearly half of its population to out- The first reasonably accurate census was taken migration to northern population centers, the in Irakia in June of 1963, with 242 individuals Papua New Guinea coast, and the outer islands. counted. While a number of aid posts providing Efforts were made to bring these people back very basic medical services were established in and were generally successful. The people of Tauna, Kaiwaina Number 2, and Abomotasa, Irakia have recently abandoned pig husbandry they were rarely used by the Irakia and Tauna and are replacing pork with imported sides of Awa, the Awa bounded complexes they were lamb. positioned to serve. Finally, in 1972, an aid post The first non-administrative person to visit was established in Mobuta and was “highly rec- and study Irakia and Tauna was Pataki in 1962 ommended” by a number of Irakians who went and 1963, who studied the geography, social for treatment of minor ailments (Boyd 1975). organization, and demography of the Awa for By 1961, many new crops were introduced the University of Washington New Guinea through trade from the west and by patrol offi- Microevolution Project (Pataki-Schweizer cers who often distributed seeds, but few were 1980). The first to reside in Irakia was the an- actually used or eaten for lack of interest and thropologist Phillip Newman, who did ethno- fear that they were potentially dangerous (Boyd logical research there in 1964–1965. The SIL 1975:55). Coffee was introduced from the Fore (Summer Institute of Linguistics) linguist Rich- village of Abomatasa in or about 1963. By 1972 ard Loving studied the Awa of Mobuta and re- some households had coffee gardens, with 5900 sided there intermittently from 1959 for many coffee trees in all states of maturity in Irakia; years, producing, among other works, a valuable coffee is the only cash crop in Irakia. However, paper on the use of bamboo irrigation pipes Boyd (1975:54) reported that a large variety of (1976). Cole (Watson and Cole 1977) visited new food crops had arrived in Irakia and pre- Tauna, Irakia, and Mobuta in 1966 for site sur- 416 veys. The anthropologist David Boyd (1975, centers, and migration to locations outside of 2005) studied Irakia and the Awa in 1971–72 the highlands for employment. and on several visits thereafter through 1993, We conclude this brief overview of contact and the anthropologist David Hayano (1990) history with a ‘before’ and ‘after’ story and as- studied marriage and kinship in Tauna in 1969– sessment of contact made by some of Boyd’s 1971. On a return trip in 1990, he reported a to- older male informants: tal lack of literacy in the Tauna, and by exten- The older individuals, who vividly recall and sion, other Awa bounded complexes. There take delight in telling stories about the ‘time were no schools, and the road from Okapa of fighting,’ are the most emphatic in their stopped far short of the nearest Awa settlements support of the new conditions. During inten- of Tauna and Irakia (Hayano 1990:155–159). In sive periods of warfare, people made only a addition, missionary and government aid sta- few gardens in relatively close proximity to tions were farther away, and medical help for the village, so food was often in short supply. serious illness and injury required a rugged one The men took turns guarding the trails by day to two days’ walk to Okapa from both Tauna and night, and visits to friends and relatives and Irakia bounded complexes, and much far- in neighboring villages were made infre- ther for Awa bounded complexes on the south quently.