Oposisi Revisited: a Fabric Analysis of an Early Papuan Pottery Assemblage from Yule Island, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

We report the results of a fabric analysis of a sample of pottery from Oposisi, an Early Papuan Pottery (EPP) site on Yule Island, Papua New Guinea. The central question was how pottery production patterns changed across the five phases of site occupation, which cover the full temporal span of the South Papuan EPP phase (ca. 2000–1200 cal BP). The results suggest that there was a shift towards fabric standardization following the initial phase of occupation at the site. At the same time, elaborate shell impressed decoration drops out and is replaced by less elaborate incised decoration. An unexpected finding of this study was an increase in fabric variability in the final phase of occupation, associated with the appearance of a striking type of etched decoration. It is hypothesized that these trends may be related to changes in the nature of social interaction between EPP sites.