Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Originally published in Science Express on 19 June 2003
Science 11 July 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5630, pp. 189 - 193
DOI: 10.1126/science.1085255
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea

T. P. Denham,1* S. G. Haberle,2 C. Lentfer,3 R. Fullagar,4 J. Field,4 M. Therin,4 N. Porch,5 B. Winsborough6

Multidisciplinary investigations at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea show that agriculture arose independently in New Guinea by at least 6950 to 6440 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Plant exploitation and some cultivation occurred on the wetland margin at 10,220 to 9910 cal yr B.P. (phase 1), mounding cultivation began by 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P. (phase 2), and ditched cultivation began by 4350 to 3980 cal yr B.P. (phase 3). Clearance of lower montane rainforests began in the early Holocene, with modification to grassland at 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) was utilized in the early Holocene, and bananas (Musa spp.) were intensively cultivated by at least 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P.

1 School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. 2 Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. 3 School of Environmental Science and Management, Southern Cross University, P.O. Box 157, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia. 4 Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. 5 School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, PO Box 11A, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. 6 Winsborough Consulting, 23606 Round Mountain Circle, Leander, TX 78641, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5100, Australia.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A late-Holocene palaeoecological record from Ambra Crater in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and implications for agricultural history.
J.M.K. Sniderman, J. Finn, and T.P. Denham (2009)
The Holocene 19, 449-458
   Abstract »    PDF »
Human--environment interactions in Australia and New Guinea during the Holocene.
T. Denham and S. Mooney (2008)
The Holocene 18, 365-371
   Abstract »    PDF »
Rethinking cultural chronologies and past landscape engagement in the Kopi region, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.
B. David (2008)
The Holocene 18, 463-479
   Abstract »    PDF »
Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea, during the Holocene: theory, method and practice.
T. Denham and S. Haberle (2008)
The Holocene 18, 481-496
   Abstract »    PDF »
Molecular insights into the evolution of crop plants.
J. C. Burger, M. A. Chapman, and J. M. Burke (2008)
Am. J. Botany 95, 113-122
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Patterns of Y-Chromosome Diversity Intersect with the Trans-New Guinea Hypothesis.
S. Mona, M. Tommaseo-Ponzetta, S. Brauer, H. Sudoyo, S. Marzuki, and M. Kayser (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 2546-2555
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Small is big: The microfossil perspective on human-plant interaction.
D. H. Sandweiss (2007)
PNAS 104, 3021-3022
   Full Text »    PDF »
An archaeology of the instant?: Action and narrative in microscopic archaeological residue analyses.
M. Haslam (2006)
Journal of Social Archaeology 6, 402-424
   Abstract »    PDF »
Eastern North America as an independent center of plant domestication.
B. D. Smith (2006)
PNAS 103, 12223-12228
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late-Holocene environmental variability at Munsa archaeological site, Uganda: a multicore, multiproxy approach.
B. J. Lejju, B. J. Lejju, D. Taylorl, and P. Robertshaw (2005)
The Holocene 15, 1044-1061
   Abstract »    PDF »
Taro vein chlorosis virus: characterization and variability of a new nucleorhabdovirus.
P. Revill, X. Trinh, J. Dale, and R. Harding (2005)
J. Gen. Virol. 86, 491-499
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Geography, biogeography, and why some countries are rich and others are poor.
D. A. Hibbs Jr. and O. Olsson (2004)
PNAS 101, 3715-3720
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)