30 years after P. Gorecki and D. S. Gillieson in Papua New Guinea: New Data on the Holocene Settlement of East Sepik, Upper Karawari-Arafundi Region

Selected Papers from the Third SEAMEO SPAFA International Conference on Southeast Asian ArchaeologyInternational audienceOur research at Paimbumkanja (PBK) rock shelter (East Sepik, PNG) uncovered an archaeological sequence dating back to the late Holocene between 2,956 and 1,300 years cal. BP. Two stratigraphic units (SU1 and SU2) contained lithic tools, and the raw materials used for knapping were mainly local. The modalities of the knapping process follow a chaîne opératoire associating debitage and shaping methods. Human occupation in the PBK site is part of the Holocene chrono-sequence proposed by P. Gorecki and D. S. Gillieson in 1989. This confirms a blade production associated to macro-tools from 3,000 years BP in the Sepik lowlands