Female weir fishers of the southern lowlands of Papua New Guinea: implications for an archaeology of gendered activities

Abstract

In this paper we examine a set of ethnographic practices from the mid-reaches of the Kikori River, specifically pertaining to women’s crustacean fishing, and in doing so re-examine the archaeological record of nearby rock shelter Epe Amoho. These practices, we argue, are poorly represented in many archaeological sites across the landscape. Such patterned biases of the archaeological record (e.g. of some gendered activities) have major implications for how we understand individual sites and for the utility of ethnography in archaeological interpretation. We conclude that the archaeological record of Epe Amoho underrepresents some elements of women’s dry season activities.