Poromoi Tamu and the case of the drowning village: history, lost places and the stories we tell

David, Bruno and Lamb, Lara and Delannoy, Jean-Jacques and Pivoru, Frank and Rowe, Cassandra and Pivoru, Max and Frank, Tony and Frank, Nick and Fairbairn, Andrew and Pivoru, Ruth (2012) Poromoi Tamu and the case of the drowning village: history, lost places and the stories we tell. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 16 (2). pp. 319-345. ISSN 1092-7697

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at an ancestral village site within rainforest in Papua New Guinea has revealed buried cultural evidence that can be explained in a number of ways. While interpretations based on Western archaeological methods suggest regional landscape dynamics informed by geomorphological processes, Indigenous Rumu oral traditions suggest an interpretation of the site's stratigraphy based on the workings of spiritual forces. The role of story-telling and new information in site interpretation and understanding is explored in light of these different yet complementary accounts.

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Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Permanent restricted access to published version, due to publisher's copyright policy.
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Historic - Faculty of Arts - School of Humanities and Communication (1 Apr 2011 - 30 Jun 2013)
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Historic - Faculty of Arts - School of Humanities and Communication (1 Apr 2011 - 30 Jun 2013)
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2012 07:48
Last Modified:	03 Feb 2015 03:40
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cultural interpretation; archaeology; oral traditions; story-telling; Papua New Guinea; worldviews
Fields of Research (2008):	04 Earth Sciences > 0403 Geology > 040311 Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy) 16 Studies in Human Society > 1601 Anthropology > 160104 Social and Cultural Anthropology 21 History and Archaeology > 2101 Archaeology > 210106 Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands (excl. New Zealand)
Fields of Research (2020):	37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370510 Stratigraphy (incl. biostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and basin analysis) 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4401 Anthropology > 440107 Social and cultural anthropology 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4513 Pacific Peoples culture, language and history > 451301 Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands (excl. New Zealand)
Socio-Economic Objectives (2008):	C Society > 95 Cultural Understanding > 9599 Other Cultural Understanding > 959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified
Identification Number or DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0183-0
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/21200

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