Chapter 3: Pacific rock-art: a summary of research
3.9 Papua New Guinea coast
believes to have spread from coastal Austronesian-speaking areas into the New Guinea Highlands. The movement of tapa between the coast and Highland communities may account for the presence of aspects of the APT in the non-Austronesian-speaking areas of the Highlands. If this were indeed the case, then there is all the more reason to be wary of ascribing the 'Austronesian painting tradition' to rock-art alone. The interplay between various design media needs to be considered if the APT is to be engaged in historical re- constructions of social interaction between coastal and highland communities.
As for most other rock-art regions of Papua New Guinea, few clues as to the age of the rock- art of the Sogeri/Port Moresby region are available. At Rouna, red is invariably superimposed by other colours (Leask 1943), whereas at nearby Wurera Yani, red has been found superimposing white images. At Serinumu, it has been suggested that two faded yellow figures might be older than other images at the site (Williams 1931). At Wakuia Wai, black drawings superimpose certain red paintings (Williams 1931: 127). The engravings at Lohomunidabu are said to be 'obviously ancient' because '[t]hey are smooth and weather-worn and of the same colour as the surface of the rock (Williams 1931: 130).' No obvious pattern of superimposition or sequence emerges from these limited observations.
On Normanby Island (d'Entrecasteaux Islands) engravings occur on both standing stones (often in circular arrangements) and natural features. At the site of Bisiai, several rocks and a cave are decorated. Images include anthropomorphs and concentric circles with attached spirals, rays and spokes, some of which have an internal cupule. At Sisiana, engravings occur on top of a rock locally referred to as Bureva Pouia. A large number of 'pock-holes' (probably cupules) are present, said to be caused by a local spirit cracking mapwea nuts on the rock. Unlike at Bisiai, where there is a large figurative component, motifs at Sisiana tend to be non-figurative, including spirals, concentric circles, a spiral attached to a reverse coil, and an oval with a lateral cross-bar and a little 'tail' (Williams 1931: 133). There is a strong correlation between the non-figurative motifs on Normanby and those at Boianai and Wedau at Goodenough Bay. The anthropomorphic figures at Bisiai on Normanby are unlike rock- art anywhere else in Milne Bay Province, their nearest parallels being the anthropomorphs at Lohumunidabu in Central Province (Egloff 1970). Several engraved motifs with similar scroll-like forms have also been reported at the site of Kwaianewanewala, on Fergusson Island (Young 1987: 36).
The age of the engravings in Milne Bay Province is not known, but decorated shell found in a mound deposit at Collingwood Bay resembling the Goodenough Bay rock-art (including an S-shaped double spiral, and a stylized face resembling the Type1 faces identified by Spriggs 1990b) has been dated to between 500-1000 BP (Egloff 1979). Pottery with designs similar to the rock-engravings of Milne Bay has been noted elsewhere in southeastern New Guinea, including Mailu, Woodlark, and Paneati (Louisiade Archipelago) (Tindale and Bartlett 1937;
Solheim 1964; Golson 1972a).
The Milne Bay pottery and rock-engraving motifs, which share various allomorphs of the curvilinear scroll, are said to be absent among the motif range characterising decorated pottery in Island Melanesia (Golson 1972a: 582), although the pedestaled 'Ceramic Group P' bowls identified by Egloff are thought to be of 'striking Lapita affinity' (Kirch 2000: 122).
On the basis of motif analogues, Golson (1972a) has argued for possible connections between the art of Milne Bay (pottery, rock-engravings, incised shells), the Sa-huynh- Kalanay pottery tradition of Southeast Asia, and Dong-son bronzes - all of which bear comparable curvilinear scroll/spiral motifs. On the basis of these associations, Golson (1972a: 582) suggests that the Milne Bay pottery with curvilinear scrolls may have made an appearance ' ... later than the movements that effected the colonisation of Oceania.'
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Motif correlations between the pottery, shell and rock-art of Milne Bay, and 'Metal Age' items certainly accords with the idea of a late colonisation of the Papuan coast sometime around 2100 BP. Lilley (1999: 31) has recently argued that there may have been a chain of connection after this time extending from ' ... the southeastern tip of Papua through the Vitiaz Strait to the north New Guinea coast and beyond to the west.' A close relationship between the languages of the North New Guinea and the Papuan Tip clusters also agrees with this model (Lilley 1999). This in turn would provide an explanation for the links between the scroll/spiral art of Goodenough Bay and the Sepik region. Further connections west, towards the Bird's Head, would also account for the striking similarities between the Goodenough Bay and Sepik art and the Manga style rock-paintings of the MacCiuer Gulf.
The core of this argument is elaborated upon later in this thesis.
Painted sites are also present in Milne Bay Province: on Goodenough and Fergusson Islands (Jenness and Ballantyne 1920; Williams 1931), and on Kitava in the Trobriands (Oilier and Holdsworth 1970a, 1970b; Oilier et al 1970). The Goodenough Island site contains a number of black and white paintings which bear similarities to motifs (especially the human- lizard forms) observed in the rock-art of the Admiralty Islands (see below) and Morobe (the Sogeri district and the Buang Valley sites) (Egloff 1970). The rock-art ofKoko-weo-weola shelter in the Ebididi district on Fergusson Island is said to display paintings in red, black and white, but no mention is made of the types of motifs present (Williams 1931: 130).
Likewise, the rock-art of Mapamoiwa, a series of low coral cliffs on the southwestern corner of Fergusson, is described as possessing 'three very small designs in red', but little has been said of the images themselves (Williams 1931: 130).
Over 30 caves have been explored in the Trobriand Islands but only one, on Kitava, has been found to contain rock-art. Motifs include 'mutilated hands' (presumably stencils), ochre patches (including a V-shape), and black linear drawings. The ochre patches occupy a higher position than the other rock-art at the site, a feature which suggests connections with the APT (Oilier et al, 1970). The linear drawings are thought to have been produced from black mud collected from the cave floor, and applied with the finger. Among them are possible depictions of swordfish, sharks and turtles. Other black motifs resemble fish, some of which appear to have arrows or spears sticking into them. Possible paintings of an adze, a snake and a jellyfish are also present. A non-figurative engraving (spiral) located at the entrance to the main chamber has been compared to the local Wanigela pottery and 'stone megaliths' (Oilier et al: 27).
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