TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES FOREWORD ACKNOWLDGEMENTS PART I. RETHINKING EARLY AGRICULTURE CHAPTER 1. EARLY AGRICULTURE IN THE HIGHLANDS: AN UNEXPECTED STORY Why is early agriculture in New Guinea contentious? A focus on practices CHAPTER 2. DEFINING EARLY AGRICULTURE IN NEW GUINEA A continuum of human-environment interactions Low-level food production and the middle-ground' Social dependence and environmental transformation The conditions of growth: A post-processual turn? Towards a contingent conception of early agriculture Articulating space and place Domains, transformative mechanisms and archaeological expression Temporalities of associated phenomena Context, specificity and visibility Clarification of terminology PART II. PLACES, PRACTICES AND PLANTS CHAPTER 3. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE Ages of discovery Archaeological frames of reference An introduction to highland environments CHAPTER 4. CULTIVATION PRACTICES IN THE HIGHLANDS A vegetative disposition Diversity of plant exploitation in New Guinea Practices of cultivation Plot clearance Ground preparation and earthworks Mounds Raised beds Ditches Terraces Planting, weeding and harvesting Fallowing and nutrient cycling Types of plot Tools of cultivation Ambiguity of early practices: questions of archaeological visibility Lower-intensity practices Higher-intensity practices A practice-based method for the investigation of early agriculture A chronology of constituent practices Bundling practices in time and place Transposing plants and practices Transformation through time CHAPTER 5. THE PLANTS OF HIGHLAND CULTIVATION Domesticatory relationships, degrees of domestication and cultivation mosaics Loss of sex in vegetatively propagated plants Hypothetical domestication scenarios for the highlands Crop plants in the highlands Staple Crops Bananas (Musa cvs.) Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Yams (Dioscorea spp.) Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) Other traditional staples Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) Manioc, or cassava (Manihot esculenta) Vegetables Assorted green leafy vegetables Edible cane grasses (pitpit) Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) Gourds Nut and fruit trees Castanopsis (Castanopsis acuminatissima) Pandanus - karuka (Pandanus julianettii/iwen/brosimos complex) and marita (Pandanus conoideus) Archaeobotanical visibility of vegetative domestication and cultivation PART III. PRACTICES IN THE PAST CHAPTER 6: EXPLOITING DIVERSITY IN THE PLEISTOCENE To Sahul Archaeological traces Palaeoecological inference Not just trees and tubers ... Pandanus species in the highlands More than hunting and the seasonal exploitation of Pandanus Rethinking occupation of the interior during the Pleistocene Common practices in diverse contexts CHAPTER 7: AMBIGUITIES OF PRACTICE DURING THE EARLY HOLOCENE Multidisciplinary evidence at Kuk, c. 10,000 years ago A gap, patch or plot on the wetland margin? People's use of plants Natural ranges and loci of plant domestication Transitional steps to cultivation A novel form of plant exploitation CHAPTER 8. THE EMERGENCE OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION What are we looking for? Is there a neolithic signature? Ground stone axe-adzes Tanged blades Stone mortars, pestles and figurines Palaeoecology, geomorphology and landscape change From patch to plot: the transition to cultivation CHAPTER 9. THE ADOPTION OF MOUND CULTIVATION DURING THE MID HOLOCENE Dramatic deforestation in the Upper Wahgi Valley The archaeological evidence for mound cultivation at Kuk Palaeoenvironments within cultivated plots Multidisciplinary consilience Mounds at other sites The purpose of mounds A later development Summary of agronomic innovation CHAPTER 10. THE DIGGING OF DRAINAGE DITCHES DURING THE LATE HOLOCENE Drainage ditches in the highlands The Tambul spade The archaeological sequence of early ditches at Kuk Chronology Ditch complexes Artificiality The emergence of rectilinear field systems The dispersal of ditch-digging, 2750-2150 cal BP Warrawau Minjigina Haeapugua Kana Additional technological considerations The design, planning and organisation of drainage Wooden tools Cultivation of drains Planting seed in a vegetative world Agricultural innovation and transfer of practical knowledge Social transformations in the highlands Ditches and sedentism Group identity, territoriality and inscription Some thoughts on timing and causation CHAPTER 11. LATER INNOVATIONS, INTRODUCTIONS AND ADOPTIONS Tillage Formalisation of ditch networks The introduction of animal domesticates from Island Southeast Asia Plant introductions from Island Southeast Asia Casuarina tree-fallowing Ethnography, ethnohistory and local-scale exchange: A Kalam case study Sweet potato, pigs and big men Why adopt? PART IV. TAKING A BROADER VIEW CHAPTER 12. HISTORICAL RESILIENCE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE HIGHLANDS Learning from the past Agricultural sustainability Crop diversity and improvement Adapting to climate change Making social sense A look to the future CHAPTER 13. THE GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY AGRICULTURE ON NEW GUINEA Telling a story from the margins Is New Guinea unique within the Asia-Pacific region? Plant exploitation in the tropics is different The search for origins: a regulative idea BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES FOREWORD ACKNOWLDGEMENTS PART I. RETHINKING EARLY AGRICULTURE CHAPTER 1. EARLY AGRICULTURE IN THE HIGHLANDS: AN UNEXPECTED STORY Why is early agriculture in New Guinea contentious? A focus on practices CHAPTER 2. DEFINING EARLY AGRICULTURE IN NEW GUINEA A continuum of human-environment interactions Low-level food production and the middle-ground' Social dependence and environmental transformation The conditions of growth: A post-processual turn? Towards a contingent conception of early agriculture Articulating space and place Domains, transformative mechanisms and archaeological expression Temporalities of associated phenomena Context, specificity and visibility Clarification of terminology PART II. PLACES, PRACTICES AND PLANTS CHAPTER 3. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE Ages of discovery Archaeological frames of reference An introduction to highland environments CHAPTER 4. CULTIVATION PRACTICES IN THE HIGHLANDS A vegetative disposition Diversity of plant exploitation in New Guinea Practices of cultivation Plot clearance Ground preparation and earthworks Mounds Raised beds Ditches Terraces Planting, weeding and harvesting Fallowing and nutrient cycling Types of plot Tools of cultivation Ambiguity of early practices: questions of archaeological visibility Lower-intensity practices Higher-intensity practices A practice-based method for the investigation of early agriculture A chronology of constituent practices Bundling practices in time and place Transposing plants and practices Transformation through time CHAPTER 5. THE PLANTS OF HIGHLAND CULTIVATION Domesticatory relationships, degrees of domestication and cultivation mosaics Loss of sex in vegetatively propagated plants Hypothetical domestication scenarios for the highlands Crop plants in the highlands Staple Crops Bananas (Musa cvs.) Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Yams (Dioscorea spp.) Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) Other traditional staples Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) Manioc, or cassava (Manihot esculenta) Vegetables Assorted green leafy vegetables Edible cane grasses (pitpit) Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) Gourds Nut and fruit trees Castanopsis (Castanopsis acuminatissima) Pandanus - karuka (Pandanus julianettii/iwen/brosimos complex) and marita (Pandanus conoideus) Archaeobotanical visibility of vegetative domestication and cultivation PART III. PRACTICES IN THE PAST CHAPTER 6: EXPLOITING DIVERSITY IN THE PLEISTOCENE To Sahul Archaeological traces Palaeoecological inference Not just trees and tubers ... Pandanus species in the highlands More than hunting and the seasonal exploitation of Pandanus Rethinking occupation of the interior during the Pleistocene Common practices in diverse contexts CHAPTER 7: AMBIGUITIES OF PRACTICE DURING THE EARLY HOLOCENE Multidisciplinary evidence at Kuk, c. 10,000 years ago A gap, patch or plot on the wetland margin? People's use of plants Natural ranges and loci of plant domestication Transitional steps to cultivation A novel form of plant exploitation CHAPTER 8. THE EMERGENCE OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION What are we looking for? Is there a neolithic signature? Ground stone axe-adzes Tanged blades Stone mortars, pestles and figurines Palaeoecology, geomorphology and landscape change From patch to plot: the transition to cultivation CHAPTER 9. THE ADOPTION OF MOUND CULTIVATION DURING THE MID HOLOCENE Dramatic deforestation in the Upper Wahgi Valley The archaeological evidence for mound cultivation at Kuk Palaeoenvironments within cultivated plots Multidisciplinary consilience Mounds at other sites The purpose of mounds A later development Summary of agronomic innovation CHAPTER 10. THE DIGGING OF DRAINAGE DITCHES DURING THE LATE HOLOCENE Drainage ditches in the highlands The Tambul spade The archaeological sequence of early ditches at Kuk Chronology Ditch complexes Artificiality The emergence of rectilinear field systems The dispersal of ditch-digging, 2750-2150 cal BP Warrawau Minjigina Haeapugua Kana Additional technological considerations The design, planning and organisation of drainage Wooden tools Cultivation of drains Planting seed in a vegetative world Agricultural innovation and transfer of practical knowledge Social transformations in the highlands Ditches and sedentism Group identity, territoriality and inscription Some thoughts on timing and causation CHAPTER 11. LATER INNOVATIONS, INTRODUCTIONS AND ADOPTIONS Tillage Formalisation of ditch networks The introduction of animal domesticates from Island Southeast Asia Plant introductions from Island Southeast Asia Casuarina tree-fallowing Ethnography, ethnohistory and local-scale exchange: A Kalam case study Sweet potato, pigs and big men Why adopt? PART IV. TAKING A BROADER VIEW CHAPTER 12. HISTORICAL RESILIENCE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE HIGHLANDS Learning from the past Agricultural sustainability Crop diversity and improvement Adapting to climate change Making social sense A look to the future CHAPTER 13. THE GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY AGRICULTURE ON NEW GUINEA Telling a story from the margins Is New Guinea unique within the Asia-Pacific region? Plant exploitation in the tropics is different The search for origins: a regulative idea BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX