Cannibalism and Developments to Socio-Political Systems from 540 BP in the Massim Islands of south-east Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The consumption of human flesh, popularly defined as cannibalism, has arguably occurred throughout much of human history. In New Guinea, it has been associated ethnographically with warfare, mortuary rites and nutrition. However, it often evades detection in the archaeological record because of difficulties in distinguishing it from other social practices. Here we disentangle colonial myths associated with the consumption of human flesh and report disarticulated, burnt and cut human skeletal remains from two coastal sites spanning the past 540 years in the Massim island region of southeast Papua New Guinea. These sites, Wule and Morpa, both occur on Rossel Island. The skeletal evidence is contemporary with the construction of large stone platforms where human victims were often killed and consumed, and inland villages which were established in response to a well-attested period of conflict on Rossel and throughout the region. Within an ethnoarchaeological framework, we argue that cannibalism became increasingly prevalent in association with feasting as a means of maintaining social relationships and personal power. The findings are placed first within an island, then a regional model of emerging pressures on existing socio-political systems.

Full text

From Field to Museum
Studies from Melanesia in Honour of Robin Torrence
edited by
Jim Specht, Val Attenbrow, and Jim Allen
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Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online, no. 34, pp. 1–258
12 May 2021

Keywords: Papua New Guinea; Rossel Island; Massim; cannibalism; feasting; subsistence
Corresponding author: Ben Shaw Ben.Shaw@anu.edu.au
Received: 19 November 2020 Accepted: 30 November 2020 Published: 12 May 2021 (online only)
Publisher: The Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia (a statutory authority of, and principally funded by, the NSW State Government)
Citation: Shaw, Ben, and Simon Coxe. 2021. Cannibalism and developments to socio-political systems from 540 BP in the Massim Islands of south-east
Papua New Guinea. In From Field to Museum—Studies from Melanesia in Honour of Robin Torrence, ed. Jim Specht, Val Attenbrow, and Jim Allen. Technical
Reports of the Australian Museum Online 34: 47–60. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.1835-4211.34.2021.1742
Copyright: © 2021 Shaw, Coxe. This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original authors and source are credited.
Tech. Rep. Aust. Mus. Online
Number 34, pp. 47–60, 2021
https://doi.org/10.3853/j.1835-4211.34.2021.1742
Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online
a peer-reviewed open-access journal
published by the Australian Museum, Sydney
communicating knowledge derived from our collections
ISSN 1835-4211 (online)
Cannibalism and Developments to Socio-Political Systems
from 540 BP in the Massim Islands
of south-east Papua New Guinea
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Introduction
     
         
      
      


et al
     et al


 
      

        

       


   et al    
et al

        
       
et al

 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 
et alet al
        

  

        
      
     


    



    
Figure 1. A B
  


 
      





        
      




  
Separating colonial myth
from indigenous reality


       
          

      
       
  

     

  

      
       

       
        
  
        





      
      
       

    

      



    



      

     


      


     



      
       

     

et al
         




         
        





        

     
    



        

  
  
      
       

The historical rationale for cannibalism
in the Massim islands
     

       

        


       


    
    
 

  


  





      






  Tridacna     

   
      


       
       
      
    
        
         
        
         

 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 











Figure 2. Agahana
B
CD
E
F






       

    

     

  
       
         

Stone platforms and their connection
to cannibalism


       




         
        



        
        
   
  

    
  

        
        



   


et al

Figure 3. 
Cannibalism, sorcery, feasting and leadership
on Rossel Island
    




St Paul


 


          
 
        
  

        


 

       
  

  
      
  


     



      
       





 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 

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        
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       
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
  
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
         
         


        
        
         
        

      
   





Personhood in the Massim—
a link to cannibalism
        
    
      
       
    
       


       

       



       

          
         


  
        
  
 



       
       
  
       
         

Distinguishing cannibalism
from other mortuary ritual and conict
      

    
      
    


  
   

  

   




    


         


          
        
    






Figure 4. 
         



  
      
           

       
 




      
     
         
      
        
        
        
         

       
      
       
     


Wule and Morpa site chronologies,
skeletal remains and pottery
        


 

Figure 5. ABCD

2
      

       

2
  

        
     
  
  
    

   
et alet al

         


      




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   et al    
      
 
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


 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 
Skeletal remains


     

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
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   
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         

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Figure 6. A,BCD,E
FG
 
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
       
        
       
       
       
      
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

        
       
       
         

        
      
 

        

  
Figure 7.      
AB
  C    
D 
EF, G 



        
   


Discussion
      

      





       
    
        

     
         

et al



Regional and local inuences

          
        
 
       
      

       
et al       




      
    


       
     

        



        
      
  

 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 
Figure 8. 
et al

Table 1

Table 2

  






       


   






        

  
       
         
      
       
   



     

  
   

Cannibalism and a connection
to mortuary contexts
   
        



       
           


   
         


  
et al
 


The rise of feasts as a political tool
      




 et al et al



      




      
       

      




Conclusion
       
       
     
        
    
  

    
    
       
        
      


        
       

       
        
          
          
   

   

      
       




References
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Papua New Guinea

Pelletier: The Forgotten Castaway of Cape
York
    Rossel Island: An Ethnological Study

Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Human Evolution,

       
    Journal of
the Polynesian Society
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20706459

 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 
        
    The Kula:
New Perspectives on Massim Exchange, 

On the Bones of the Serpent: Person, Memory,
and Mortality in Sabarl Island Society

     

       


Pieces of the Vanuatu Puzzle: Archaeology of
the North, South and Centre  

https://doi.org/10.22459/PVP.02.2007
  


    

        
American Journal of
Physical Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23079
          
The Kula: New Perspectives on Massim Exchange


Eating Stone and Dying: Archaeological Survey
on Woodlark Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea


     Archaeology in Oceania

https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2002.tb00498.x
    Mountains Gold and Cannibals 


  
     Antiquity 

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00099282
     
       
 Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural
History
http://hdl.handle.net/2246/1263
         
        
   
Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

https://doi.org/10.1080/15564890801928300


The Hiri in History: Further Aspects of Long Distance
Motu Trade in Central Papua    


The Kula: New Perspectives on Massim Exchange


          

       
         
      Current
Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1086/653807
Pioneering in New Guinea

Massim Art: A Review of the Visual Arts of
Some Societies in the Massim Area, their Development, Diusion
and Distinction

          
     American
Anthropologist
https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1995.22.1.02a00040
          
  Forensic Taphonomy: the Postmortem Fate of
Human Remains

Death Rituals and Life
in the Societies of the Kula Ring   

         
      
  Journal
of Archaeological Science
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2019.01.002

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199910)110:2<215::AID-AJPA7>3.0.CO;2-D
       
International Journal
of Osteoarchaeology
https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(200001/02)10:1<76::AID-OA506>3.0.CO;2-#
         
 Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40386172
         
Mankind
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1978.tb00671.x
   
  
    Journal of Human
Evolution
https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0324
Governor in New Guinea

Rossel to English, English
to Rossel Dictionary

   The Voyage of Torres: The Discovery of the
Southern Coastline of New Guinea and Torres Strait by Captain
Luis Baez de Torres in 1606

The Emergence of Mailu as a Central Place in
Coastal Papuan Prehistory  




   Archaeology
in Oceania
https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5167
The Northern D’Entrecasteaux

        
Cannibalism and the Colonial World


  The Evolution of Polynesian Chiefdoms

        
Fragments for a History
of the Human Body      

        

Anthropologica
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24467304

  

      The Geographical Journal

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1778839
 Commodore Sir John Hayes: His Voyage and Life
(1767–1831), with Some Account of Admiral d’Entrecasteaux’s
Voyage of 1792–3
  Fruit of the Motherland: Gender and
Exchange on Vanatinai, Papua New Guinea


The Kula: New Perspectives on Massim
Exchange


Ethnology
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773632
          
Grammars of Space: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity
      

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486753
        
    The Journal of Pacic
History
https://doi.org/10.1080/00223348308572462
        Death
Rituals and Life in the Societies of the Kula Ring  


       Journal de la
Société des Océanistes
https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.802
A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel
Island
 Picturesque New Guinea, With an Historical
Introduction and Supplementary Chapters on the Manners and
Customs of the Papuans
   

 American Journal of Physical Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330680105
New Guinea: An Account of the Establishment of the
British Protectorate over the Southern Shores of New Guinea


Annual
Report on British New Guinea from 1st July, 1892, to 30th June,
1893; With Appendices  

Changing Paths. An Historical Ethnology of
the Traders of Tubetube 

       
Canberra Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1080/03149098409508563

History and Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.1994.9960847
      
      Social
Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23171770
Argonauts of the Western Pacic

 The Sexual Life of Savages in North-West
Melanesia. An Ethnographic Account of Courtship, Marriage
and Family Life Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands,
British New Guinea
 Among the Cannibals of New Guinea: The
Story of the New Guinea Mission of the London Missionary
Society      

        
Representations
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3043794

Journal of the Royal Historical
Society of Queensland
Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea and the
D’Entrecasteaux Islands
British New Guinea Annual
Report for the Year Ending 30th June, 1904  

       
Man
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2804170

 Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00022
Papua: Report for the Year Ending 30th June
1908
       
     Territory of Papua: Annual
Report for the Year 1931–1932     


        
Bulletin of the Department of Archaeology
(University of Tokyo)
         
Helictite
    
      
Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40386188
 Thirty Years in the South Seas.
Land and People, Customs and Traditions in the Bismarck
Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands



      
Journal of Island and
Coastal Archaeology
https://doi.org/10.1080/15564890701228579
      
      Taja: The
Australian Journal of Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1984.tb01401.x
Early Tongan Prehistory: The Lapita Period on
Tongatapu and its Relationships


The Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity
in the Fiji Islands     

Early Evidence for Fijian Cannibalism: Rening
the Methods for Identifying Cannibalism in the Archaeological
Record
        
   Le Tour
du Monde: Nouveau Journal des Voyages
       
     Mankind 

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1954.tb00205.x

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009512726844

  The Anthropology of Cannibalism  


 Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online 
   The Sign of the Cannibal: Melville and the
Making of a Postcolonial Reader 

The Melanesians of British New Guinea

  The Archaeology of Rossel Island, Massim,
Papua New Guinea: Towards a Prehistory of the Louisiade
Archipelago   


Journal of Pacic Archaeology

https://pacicarchaeology.org/index.php/journal/article/view/172
        
     

Archaeology in Oceania
https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5104



       The
Holocene
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620908641
       


The Journal of Island and Coastal
Archaeology
https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2016.1188335
  
Journal
of Archaeological Science
https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(84)9 X
Politics of the Kula ring: An Analysis of
the Findings of Bronislaw Malinowski.

      Hiri: Archaeology of Long-
Distance Maritime Trade along the South Coast of Papua New
Guinea

        
Domodomo

World Archaeology
https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240802453161

Antiquity

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X0006052X
       
Fieldiana: Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.3158/0071-4739-42.1.197
       

Oceania
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1998.tb02664.x
The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women
and Problems with Society in Melanesia

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520910713


     Archaeology in Oceania 

https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5106
Journal of
the Manchester Geographical Society
      
       Theory,
Method, and Practice in Modern Archaeology

         
   

Anthropological Science
https://doi.org/10.1537/ase.103.1
Man Corn: Cannibalism
and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest

 
The Archaeology of the Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay Province,
Papua New Guinea   

      
 Ethnos

https://doi.org/10.1080/001418400360652
     Evolutionary
Anthropology
https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.1360010307

        
Science
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.233.4762.431
Big Men and Great Men
  

  Women of Value, Men of Renown. New
Perspectives in Trobriand Exchange  

   The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea

Prehistoric Cannibalism at Mancos 5MTUMR-
2346
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400852925
Death and Leadership on Misima

   Fighting with Food. Leadership, Values and
Social Control in a Massim Society  
