Robin Torrence

Australian Museum · Department of Anthropology

Widely held assumptions about static societies during the early-middle Holocene (c. 10,000–3300 BP) in the Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea are challenged by a hypothetical reconstruction of social negotiations that we propose were embedded within the manufacture of large obsidian stemmed tools that circulated as cultural valuables. Made by sk...

en The analysis of cultural practices at four sites near Cape Gloucester and on Uneapa and Garua Islands in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea shows how rock markings and boulder arrangements create special places within physical and social landscapes. Four kinds of rock markings are documented: cupules, abraded surfaces, geometric curvilinear and...

The presence of small depressions on stone tools found in various parts of Australia has frequently been assumed to be the consequence of bipolar knapping. In contrast, Pardoe et al. (2019) and Attenbrow and Kononenko (2019) proposed that these attributes derive from their use for nut cracking. To test this hypothesis, we conducted experiments usin...

en We report an unusual example of rock engravings in an open context in the Highlands region of Papua New Guinea. The highly weathered assemblage comprised a cluster of two “cup and ring” motifs with at least eight additional cup marks pecked on a small basalt boulder located on the summit of Ambra Crater (also Mt. Ambra), a potentially significan...

Between 1888 and 1898 Sir William MacGregor, first Administrator of British New Guinea, orchestrated the collection of over 15,000 cultural objects. Using Appadurai's notion of ‘things-in-motion’, we trace the networked biography of the MacGregor collection through ‘regimes of value’ as it moved from the territory to museums in Australia and Britai...

Compared to elsewhere in Oceania, the history and character of stone axe‐adze production and exchange in the Bismarck Archipelago is very poorly known. To explore the feasibility of using geochemical analysis to trace past social interaction, we conducted a non‐destructive portable XRF study of 97 ground stone artefacts from archaeological contexts...

On his retirement as Editor of Journal of Archaeological Science (JAS) at the end of 2017, we celebrate Thilo Rehren's contributions to the growth of the journal over the past 13 years and, consequently, his impacts in shaping archaeological science as a discipline. Since Rehren was an architect of the new consortium of journals comprising JAS and...

A review of key concepts useful for structuring research on social responses to volcanic eruptions among pre-industrial societies is presented as a framework for contextualising research on the Avellino volcanic event. Beginning with vulnerability, the importance for archaeological research of a temporal viewpoint that effectively incorporates stud...

A use-wear and residue study of 56 retouched obsidian flakes from seven Lapita sites in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu confirms that they had been used for tattooing. These specialised tools all bear one or more very small points formed by alternating retouch. A detailed comparison of use traces and pigments on these and 19 addition...

Although tattoos have been observed on mummies dated to over 5000 years old, the generally poor preservation of human remains makes it difficult to use this type of adornment to understand how inscriptions on the body have been used to define self and social ascriptions. A potential method for detecting tattooing is to identify the tools used to ma...

As the product of negotiated exchanges between indigenous groups and outsiders, ethnographic collections offer a rich source of information about colonial cultures. Focusing on museum collections from Central Province, Papua New Guinea, we show how archaeological analyses of assemblages reveal strategies used by indigenous groups to benefit from th...

Geochemical analysis using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) shows that a large stemmed tool in the Bishop Museum, thought at one time to be a mata‘a from Rapa Nui, is composed of obsidian from the Mopir outcrops on New Britain, Papua New Guinea. As the first large, ceremonial stemmed tool from this quarry, it challenges the hypothesis that produc...

This special issue honours Richard Klein's outstanding contributions to archaeology through his seminal role as a senior editor for the Journal of Archaeological Science (JAS). The papers presented here assess achievements in archaeological science during the 40 years of research since JAS began, and scope the future within evolutionary and social...

Large flaked stemmed artefacts with a morphological resemblance to axes or adzes have been recovered from stone quarries in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, but they are made from obsidian, a volcanic glass generally considered too brittle for tasks demanding tough, long-lasting edges, such as chopping wood. To evaluate the potential of obsidian...

A geochemical study using pXRF and LA–ICP–MS to characterise artefacts from sites dating to the initial phase of colonisation on Aore and Malo islands, Vanuatu, has confirmed the dominance of obsidian from the distant Kutau/Bao source in West New Britain, with a smaller group from local outcrops in the Banks Islands, Vanuatu. Three flakes from the...

Previous geochemical studies of volcanic glass artifacts dating to the Late Palaeolithic in northeast Asia have revealed a wide distribution of artifacts from sources in China, Korea, and Far East Russia. Through an analysis of lithic technology, this study sheds new light on the variety and complexity of the social, technological, and landscape fa...

A new obsidian source from northwest Manus, Papua New Guinea, is reported for the first time. The chemical signature for this new source was obtained using the electron microprobe, ICP-MS, and PIXE-PIGME, and the results were compared with known sources and artifacts from this region. The results show for the first time a more complex scenario of o...

A review of archaeological research on the impacts of multiple volcanic events in the Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea during the past 40,000 years demonstrates that disaster studies in archaeology would benefit from considering resilience and innovation in addition to the more common emphasis on vulnerability, often glossed as ‘collapse.’ Whe...

The technology, typology, context and probable mid-Holocene date of a newly discovered group of exceptional obsidian stemmed tools at Barema, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, opens a rare window on social life and ideology during a poorly known period in Melanesia. We argue that, because of their size, fragility and the skill required for their manuf...

To assess the proposal that the widespread distribution of early-mid Holocene obsidian stemmed tools in Papua New Guinea signifies wide ranging social networks, studies of their morphology, technology, and geochemical composition were conducted. It is argued that strong similarities in technology and form of artifacts made from both Manus and New B...

To assess the proposal that the widespread distribution of early–mid Holocene obsidian stemmed tools in Papua New Guinea signifies wide ranging social networks, studies of their morphology, technology, and geochemical composition were conducted. It is argued that strong similarities in technology and form of artifacts made from both Manus and New B...

Analytical Archaeometry describes this interesting and challenging field of research - on the border between natural sciences (chemistry, spectroscopy, biology, geology) and humanities (archaeology, (art-)history, conservation sciences). It fills the gap between these two areas whilst focussing on the analytical aspects of this research field. The...

Environments characterized by frequent volcanic activity provide an excellent opportunity to observe interactions between human land use and ecosystem succession as they unfold over time. A case study tracing the history of re-colonisation by humans and plants following a series of volcanic disasters during the past 40,000 years in the Willaumez Pe...

Drawing on their own primary research, Hunt and Lipo argue that Easter Island's population did not collapse from human exploitation of the environment.

Australia has had a long and entangled history of engagement with Papua New Guinea and its peoples from the time of the earliest British and Australian explorations in the nineteenth century, through the period of colonial administration from 1902 to 1975, and continuing into the present day. One lasting outcome from the early period of these colon...

As the most abundant, and frequently the only, archaeological evidence preserved within the volcanic soils of the Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, stone artefacts carry a heavy burden for scholars seeking to write the prehistory of subsistence and land use. Efforts to squeeze information from these recalcitrant informal assemblages of obsidia...

Although on face value, museum collections are largely perceived as static entities hidden away in storerooms or trapped behind glass cases, new research shows that over time and across space interactions between objects and a wide range of people have generated a complex assemblage of material and social networks. Based on a broad collection of so...

At first glance, auction and sale catalogues of ethnographic artefacts dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries appear to record merely the desires of colonial collectors. Our detailed study of changes in proveniences, types and prices shows how an archaeological approach to assemblages coupled with appropriate analytical strateg...

Museum collections are often perceived as static entities hidden away in storerooms or trapped behind glass cases. By focusing on the dynamic histories of museum collections, new research reveals their pivotal role in shaping a wide range of social relations. Over time and across space the interactions between these artefacts and the people and ins...

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of Indigenous producers and traders in the formation of ethnographic museum collections, but have found difficulty in finding concrete evidence for their active roles. A use-wear and residue study of turtle bone cleavers from Wuvulu Island, Papua New Guinea provides the opportunity to test whether objec...

Recent studies have highlighted the long-distance transport of obsidian from the Paektusan (Tianchi or Baitoushan in Chinese) volcano on the border between China and North Korea to eastern Russia and Korea, but little is known about the role of the local population in the production and movement or exchange of this important raw material. This pape...

Studies of the technology and function of small retouched stemmed and waisted stone tools from late Holocene sites in central New Britain provide a powerful means for monitoring the effects of the massive W-K2 volcanic eruption (3480–3150 cal BP), after which pottery occurs in this region for the first time. Use-wear and residue studies show that t...

Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic silicate glass produced when highly viscous felsic lava cools rapidly through the glass transition temperature, not allowing sufficient time for crystal growth. Obsidian was a popular raw material in prehistory because its amorphous and isotropic nature means that little force is required to produce concho...

New studies of the deposits from the latest caldera-forming eruption (the “Dk” event) at Dakataua Volcano, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, help identify an intense space-time concentration of large-scale volcanism during the 7th century AD on New Britain. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the Dk deposits yields an age of 1,383 ± 28BP. Calib...

The role of natural disasters has been largely overlooked in studies of South Pacific historical ecology. To highlight the importance of rapid-onset natural hazards, we focus on the contributions of volcanism in shaping landscape histories. Results of long-term research in the Willaumez Peninsula on New Britain in Papua New Guinea illustrate the wi...

Prehistoric land use and social activity in West New Britain, PNG, are well documented, although the landscapes - largely shaped by catastrophic volcanic eruptions - in which these took place, and the relationships people had with these landscapes, are poorly understood. We define the evolving landscape at Numundo, from prior to the Witori-Kimbe 2...

Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaeobotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobota...

Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass which is amorphous and isotropic. These characteristics allow it to be easily shaped as little force is required to produce conchoidal fractures of predictable forms and sizes. A class of obsidian artefacts known as ‘stemmed tools’ have been found in locations situated across lowland Papua New Guinea and have be...

The widespread distribution in Papua New Guinea of obsidian stemmed tools dated to the mid-Holocene has led scholars to postulate the existence of large interaction spheres. A newly reported artifact from Biak Island, West Papua provides the stimulus for reconsidering the role of this tool type in regional social interaction. The tool was hammer-dr...

The importance of innovative behavior in highly resource-poor seasonal environments is highlighted by the flexible stone working technology at the Tigrovy-8 late Pleistocene basaltic glass quarry, recently discovered in the Primorye region of eastern Russia. Although risky, investing time and energy in developing new flaking techniques was particul...

Lapita pottery seems to arrive in the Pacific out of the blue, and signal a new social, economic or ideological network. The authors show that widespread interaction, articulated by obsidian tools and stone mortars and pestles decorated with various motifs, was already in existence in New Guinea and New Britain. These earlier networks provide a pre...

The stratigraphic sequence of 22 tephra beds and their associated paleosols at two sites selected from our studies in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea provide the essential environmental background for understanding human responses to c. 40 ka years of volcanic activity. Lithology, grain size, and mineralogy of the tephras, interpreted for the fi...

Lapita pottery seems to arrive in the Pacific out of the blue, and signal a new social, economic or ideological network. The authors show that widespread interaction, articulated by obsidian tools and stone mortars and pestles decorated with various motifs, was already in existence in New Guinea and New Britain. These earlier networks provide a pre...

Bayesian statistical approaches to calibrating radiocarbon determinations can make a significant contribution to disaster studies by adding precision to the dating of both the environmental forcing agent and the consequent human responses. An archaeological case study in the Willaumez Peninsula region of New Britain, Papua New Guinea uses radiocarb...

Artifacts made from volcanic glass have been found in archaeological contexts dating from the Late Palaeolithic (ca. 20,000 yr B.P.) through to the end of the Bronze Age (ca. 2700 yr B.P.) in the southern Primorye region of Far East Russia. A geoarchaeological survey of volcanic glass outcrops assessed the various potential sources to determine the...

Popularist treatments of ancient disasters like volcanic eruptions have grossly overstated their capacity for death, destruction, and societal collapse. Contributors to this volume—from anthropology, archaeology, environmental studies, geology, and biology—show that human societies have been incredibly resilient and, in the long run, have often...

Includes Chapter 2: The Campanian Ignimbrite Factor: Towards a Reappraisal of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic ‘Transition’; by F G Fedele, B Giaccio, R. Isaia, G Orsi, M Carroll & B Scaillet

An integrated approach to the reconstruction of vegetation history and human land use during the Holocene on Garua Island, Papua New Guinea analysed sediments and plant microfossils (phytoliths and starch granules) together with archaeological data. The long-term record is punctuated by a series of volcanic disasters, where repeated cycles of massi...

Lapita all over: Land-use on Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea Jim Specht and Robin Torrence Australian Museum ABSTRACT. This paper applies the landscape approach previously used by Torrence and Stevenson for Garua Island to study the history of land-use on the isthmus of Willaumez Peninsula, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Combining an a...

Abstracto Los congresos grandes son una parte integral de WAC. A pesar de las controversias e interrupciones, éstos han tenido mucho éxito al reunir una variedad de personas que comparten diferentes conocimientos y puntos de vista. Los tiempos han cambiado, sin embargo y ahora yo cuestiono si WAC debería buscar nuevas perspectivas. Yo propongo que...

The geological and archaeological signatures at the site of Kupona na Dari on the Willaumez Peninsula, West New Britain provide important new data about human colonisation of the Bismarck Archipelago. Analyses of the stratigraphy and weathering of paleosols and manuports, when combined with fission track, radiocarbon, and luminescence dating, indic...

An unusual obsidian stemmed tool found by Jim Specht at Boku Hill, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, provides evidence for the existence of valuables in the pre-Lapita period. The large amount of skill, care, and effort invested in the manufacture of this large artefact combined with its symmetry and fragility imply that, unlike the other stemmed...

An unusual obsidian stemmed tool found by Jim Specht at Boku Hill, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, provides evidence for the existence of valuables in the pre-Lapita period. The large amount of skill, care, and effort invested in the manufacture of this large artefact combined with its symmetry and fragility imply that, unlike the other stemmed...

The full potential of ancient starch analysis will not be fully realised until comprehensive identification keys have been established. To address this problem multivariate analysis of data recorded from digital images can be used to construct an automatic system of classification. As a first step we used digital image analysis to record 18 variabl...