Robin Torrence

Unpacking the Collection

This work will be of great interest to archaeologists and anthropologists studying material culture, as well as researchers in museum studies and cultural ...

Stemmed Tools, Social Interaction, and Voyaging in Early–Mid Holocene Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT To assess the proposal that the widespread distribution of early–mid Holocene obsidian stemmed tools in Papua New Guinea signifies wide ranging social networks, studies of their morphology, technology, and geochemical composition were conducted. It is argued that strong similarities in technology and form of artifacts made from both Manus and New Britain obsidians and their characterization to only one sub-source in each region indicate significant social interaction between these two island groups. Away from the obsidian sources, stemmed tools made from local raw material as well as imported obsidian suggest knowledge and practices were also distributed through a series of overlapping social networks. Long-distance voyaging to confirm and enhance status might explain the far-flung distribution of some tools. The new data about stemmed tool production on Manus and the early use of the Umleang-Umrei sub-source highlight the importance of further research in that region.

Networks, Agents and Objects: Frameworks for Unpacking Museum Collections

Although on face value, museum collections are largely perceived as static entities hidden away in storerooms or trapped behind glass cases, new research shows that over time and across space interactions between objects and a wide range of people have generated a complex assemblage of material and social networks. Based on a broad collection of source materials, studies examining the people who made, sold, traded, studied, catalogued, exhibited and connected with objects reveal a dynamic set of material and social agencies that have been instrumental in creating, shaping and reworking museum collections. By integrating and reworking theories about agency and materiality and by drawing on insights from Actor-Network Theory, contributors to this volume have uncovered new ways to think about relationships formed between objects and individuals and among diverse groups spread across the globe. The research also demonstrates that ethnographic collections continue to play important roles in supporting and reworking national identities as well as to challenge these through ongoing negotiations and sharing of ideas among both the guardians of these objects and their creator communities. These insights have important implications for designing curatorial practices in the future.

Persistent traditions in the face of natural disasters: Stemmed and waisted stone tools in late Holocene New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Abstract Studies of the technology and function of small retouched stemmed and waisted stone tools from late Holocene sites in central New Britain provide a powerful means for monitoring the effects of the massive W-K2 volcanic eruption (3480–3150 cal BP), after which pottery occurs in this region for the first time. Use-wear and residue studies show that these tools were used for processing soft starchy plant materials (tubers and wood) and cutting and piercing skin. Despite the catastrophically destructive event, results indicate cultural continuity, most likely by descendants of the original population, rather than population replacement or major cultural change. These results contribute to the ongoing debate about possible migration from Island Southeast Asia c.3400 years ago.

“Suitable for Decoration of Halls and Billiard Rooms”: Finding Indigenous Agency in Historic Auction and Sale Catalogues

At first glance, auction and sale catalogues of ethnographic artefacts dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries appear to record merely the desires of colonial collectors. Our detailed study of changes in proveniences, types and prices shows how an archaeological approach to assemblages coupled with appropriate analytical strategies can uncover changing patterns of negotiation between indigenous makers and western consumers. We begin with a broad regional comparison of cross-cultural interaction as witnessed in the catalogues and then turn to a finer scale case study based on catalogue entries relating to the colony of British New Guinea, commonly called Papua. These analyses provide insights into how indigenous artefact producers and traders in the Pacific region made creative responses to market opportunities.

Archaeology and the collection: tracing material relationships in colonial Papua from 1875 to 1925

Australia has had a long and entangled history of engagement with Papua New Guinea and its peoples from the time of the earliest British and Australian explorations in the nineteenth century, through the period of colonial administration from 1902 to 1975, and continuing into the present day. One lasting outcome from the early period of these colonial engagements are the collections of ethnographic objects made by explorers, miners, traders, missionaries and government administrators in the course of their interactions with indigenous Papuans. The collections housed in Australian museums provide a different sort of narrative to that found in written documents. In contrast, they are a material archive that records in its physical properties and composition, traces of the kinds of cross-cultural interactions that occurred in the early days of the colony. They form a tangible legacy which documents how Papuans and Westerners alike used the exchange of objects to negotiate and create social relationships in a time of flux and uncertainty. The collections, the objects and their materialities not only inform us about what shaped Western collecting desires but also about how Papuan artefact producers and traders responded strategically and creatively to new opportunities for trade and exchange.

Revisiting Rapa Nui Mata'a

Abstract:Based on a use-wear and residue analysis of a collection of 12 matā in the Australian Museum, Sydney, we question the value of relying on tool shape as an adequate indication of past use. Although the tools in this collection were used for a broad range of tasks, including plant processing, wood, shell and bone working, and cutting and piercing of flesh or skin, some may have been used in interpersonal conflict. The study illustrates the value of museum ethnographic collections for understanding past tool use.

Chapter 11:Raman Spectroscopic Studies of Obsidian

Obsidian is a natural glass produced when volcanic lava rapidly cools through the glass transition temperature and freezes, not permitting sufficient time for crystal growth.1 The amorphous and isotropic nature of obsidian means that when force is applied it fractures in a highly predictable manner ...