Queer Artifacts Found

In New Guinea Relics of a People Long Dead

MUCH material of scientific value, as well as general interest, is publish er in A “°ceania”—a journal produced by the Australian National Research Council, of Science House, Gloucester Street, Sydney, and devoted to the study of the native people of Australia and the Pacific Islands, The editor is Dr. A P Elkin and the assistant editor is Dr. H lan Hogbm, both of whom are well known anthropologists. . Some of the articles in the September issue of interest to Pacific Islands readers are; The Life of Children in Manam (New Guinea)”, by Camilla H. Wedg wood; The History of Rotuma, as Re flected in its Language”, by C. Maxwell Churchward; “The Word ‘Mana’: a Linguistic Study”, by A. Capell; “Notes on the Hill People of North Eastern Guadalcanal”, by L. W. S. Wright- “Stonp Workers of New Guinea, Past and Pre sent , by John J, Murphy.

As Mr. Murphy’s article deals with a subject of much interest to New Guinea and Papua miners (who have dug up many of the mysterious arti facts) we have taken the liberty of re producing it hereunder. Mr. Murphy is an officer of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs, in New Guinea.

A CONSIDER ABLE portion of our knowledge of our ancient peoples has been gained from the study of iragments of stone vessels, implements, and ornaments which have survived them. Brought to light in our day, they have been no small factor in limning the lives of a people whom they have survived by, perhaps, thousands of years.

In New Guinea are found many such relics. Here we find, fashioned in stone, a fragmental history of a people who ap parently inhabit no part of the island to-day, nor have they, perhaps, for a thousand years past.

Practically anywhere in the Mandated Territory relics and fragments are found.

They appear to have been made from the country rock, and usually take the form of plain or decorated bowls, some with pedestals, and some without; mor tars and pestles; effigies of birds and of the male genitalia. They have been dug up in creek-beds or in gardens, and in many cases have been, for generations, in the possession of various native com munities who use them in feasts and rituals.

On one occasion when I was camped at a place called Kambiliga, on the south bank of the Middle Wahgi, on the way to Mt, Hagen (Central New Guinea), a young man brought a fragment of a mortar which he had found in one of the creeks. It appears to have been made from the country rock and is about a quarter of the complete arti cle. It has a handle attached and was evidently an oval-shaped vessel. With constant grinding it had worn compara tively thin at the middle, and the fric iton marks of —doubtless —a pestle could be seen. The rim was carved like thick rope, and altogether it had the appear ance of being a symmetrically made article.

Four days later the patrol came to a large swampy tract some ten or twelve miles wide. This tract was entirely tree less and bordered the upper reaches of the swiftly-flowing Wahgi River. At

its edge was found a large white pillar of limestone standing upright. It meas ured 11 ft. high, was 2 ft. square in cross-section, and was accurately cut.

What its purpose is and who put it there is a mystery. There is no other stone or rock nearby and the natives have no opinion to offer.

The Mount Hagen people have some fine specimens of stone vessels, which they use in one of their principal feasts known as “Kuru Kundonim”. They call the vessels “kuru”. “Kur” is a spirit and “ku” is their word for stone. Quite possibly, then, “kuru” is a form of “ku ruku”—especially as the “r” is rolled, suppressing “k”—meaning “spirit stone”.

The manner in which they use the ves sels seems to indicate this.

When not in use, these vessels are buried in a secret place and brought out at the time of “Kuru Kundonim”. Hun dreds of pigs are slaughtered at the “venue” of the feast and cooked in holes in the ground, which are filled with hot stones and lined with banana leaves. In one centre alone 1,100 pigs were killed just before we arrived. The meat is piled on the vessels and an important man from a neighbouring tribe is invited to make the necessary appeals to the spirits in whose honour the feast is made.

This feast, and the honour done the spirits, are to ensure that crops will be fruitful and game plentiful. Women and children are strictly forbidden to ap proach within hearing of one of these feasts.

On the return trip we were camped some 20 miles to the east of Kambiliga at Gilgager, between the God Nor and Gimerl Nor. tributaries of the Wahgi. A native brought a well-preserved pestle which he successfully disposed of for a couple of “giri-giri” shells. Here again, on a superficial examination, the article appeared to have been made from the country rock.

Effigies of birds, fragments of vessels and mortars, and a variety of club heads have been found in this part of the country. But the natives certainly do not make them. Nor are stone relics confined to this area alone. Roughly two hundred miles to the south-east, near Otibanda, on the edge of the Kukukuku country, fragments- of mortars and pes tles and the heads of a cockatoo and a cassowarv have been found. These are faithful reproductions showing great at tention to detail and skill in execution, and are now in the Australian Museum, Sydney. The work is very similar to that of the present day Kukukukus, who. however, confine themselves mainly to the manufacture of club heads.

In June, 1936, during a patrol through the country at the head of the Bitoi River (Morobe district. New Guinea mainland) I found small circular bowls dug up from the river beds by miners.

These were worn so thin in the middle that they had broken though. Frag ments of bowls and axes, too, have been scooped up by the dredges on the Bu lolo River and by the miners on the Watut River.

There are certainly no people in the Mandated Territory to-day who manu facture similar articles from stone. The Kukukuku people manufacture divers shapes of club heads and a species of adze blade: and the Mount Hagen peo ple work beautifully proportioned axes.

The Kukukuku people are specialists in well-carved stone heads as the Mount Hagen are specialists in the production of stone axes. But. whereas the work of Kukukukus is sintilar to that in the frag ments found in different parts of the country, the work of the Mount Hagen people and the manner of its execution

have no counterpart in any of the fragments found. mu p ivrmint TTaerpn axes are now well- Jl e n In 11l this wide of country® with Its tens of thousands of natives, two tribes only axes aUhough U staUar rockclnbe fouSd almost anywhere in this part of the country. From these two centres the axes are traded for a radius of about a hundred miles. They are not used in regular battles, but in sudden assaults, murder and ceremony. A rougher, stouter axe is used for work.

The peoples of Biaru, the head of the Bubu River, the Ono headwaters and the Waria headwaters also manufacture stone club heads, and a stone pounder 14 to 18 inches long. These pounders are marked on one side with a conventional criss-cross pattern of 11 horizontal and 25 vertical grooves. They are

used for beating a certain kind of bark for the manufacture of blankets. These pounders are also made by the Kukuku kus. In addition the Upper Waria peo- Pie make a strong gong, varying in shape with the p £ ce ° f leasts*’ It^is sounded by prodd™!ti a stone pencil l^akes' his h slat ™ “whistle” 3,4 Th^'short makes his slate whistle ine snoit, sharp notes are not unllke those of a bell. on the eve of a big feast, many pigs are bound each to a pole and placed in a house at the end of the village. To wards midnight an important man of the tribe stalks through the village sounding his gong. This is what the men have been waiting for. They bring out the trussed pigs and line them on the ground. The bellman encircles them with measured tread, sounding his gong the while. The pigs may now be killed.

Women and children dare not show themselves nor pry when the gong is being sounded, for this is the voice of a spirit.

From New Britain comes the “Muk muk”. An occasional deposit is found where a stratum of hard black stone oc curs next to a white marble-like strat um with a well-defined line between.

From this rock the natives made an oval ball about four or five inches long, one half of which was white and the other half black. Presented white end first it was a formal declaration of war.

The black end meant peace.

Hon. A. H. Bunting, M.L.C., of Sama rai, Papua, accompanied by Mrs. Bunt ing, has returned to Australia. Mr.

Bunting’s health is not satisfactory.