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Archaeological fieldwork at Eripe cave complex (Gulf province, Papua New Guinea)

From the 29th May to the 20th of June 2024, a team of six people carried out the 2nd fieldwork of the Papuan Past Project in the Purari region, following our 2023 survey.

They undertook an archaeological excavation in the Eripe cave complex in the upper Purari region, near Uraru village (Kikori district, Gulf province). The team was composed of two CNRS researchers – French National Centre for Scientific Research (François-Xavier Ricaut, Sébastien Plutniak), one student from the University of Toulouse, France (Martial Seguin), one researcher from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil (Astolfo Araujo), one researcher from the University of Papua New Guinea (Matthew Leavesley), and one cultural heritage officer from TotalEnergies EP PNG Ltd (Avis Babalu) who is also pursuing a Master’s in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Papua New Guinea.

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Biological anthropology fieldwork at the University of Papua New Guinea: studies on stress, diet, and genetic diversity

The early 2023 Papuan Past Project fieldwork in Papua New Guinea took place from the 27th January to the 14th of February. While part of the team conducted archaeological surveys along the Purari River (Gulf Province), Nicolas Brucato, Christopher Kinipi, and Sébastien Plutniak pursued biological anthropology research at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), and were based at the archaeological lab). They followed three lines of investigations: stress, diet habits and genetic diversity in Papua New Guinea.

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Archaeological excavation of the Manim site (Highlands of Papua New Guinea)

Activities at Manim rock shelter (Photo: S. Plutniak).

Two years after the first 2017 survey in the Wurup valley by the Papuan Past Project, we finally started excavating an important Papua New Guinean archaeological site, the Manim rockshelter. This research in the highlands complements our investigations in the lowland region of the Sepik, on the history of settlement and interaction between these two regions.

A team composed of five researchers (Matthew Leavesley, François-Xavier Ricaut, Hubert Forestier, Sébastien Plutniak, and Jean-Pierre de Saint Aubert) and two students from the University of Papua New Guinea (Chloe Apo and Jeiven Andu) worked from the 24th of June to the 6th of July 2019. During the first week, they were accompanied by two filmmakers (Guy Beauché and Christophe Joly).

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Film-makers following the tracks of Denisova with the Papuan Past Project team

Film director Guy Beauché in front of handstencils in Kundumbu rockshelter (Photo: F.-X. Ricaut).

The research activities of the Papuan Past Project have gained interest beyond the scientific community, resulting in the project participating in a documentary film. One of the recent publications from the project, on the possible Denisova-Modern Humans admixture in New Guinea, has led the production house Galaxies/Scienti-Film to support a documentary on the exciting Denisova topic. The Papuan Past Project is the only research project to combine genetic and archaeological investigations, so an interesting project to cover in the film. A team composed of the film director Guy Beauché and sound engineer Christophe Joly joined the team from the 16th of June to the 2nd of July 2019. They filmed in the two regions that were the focus of the 2019 fieldwork: the Sepik and Highland regions. Footage from these locations will be complemented with footage from the Himalayas and Russia (Denisova cave) and research laboratories in Europe (e.g. France: University of Toulouse for the human genetic and National Museum of Natural History for the archaeological questions).

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