Regional differences in the Official collection: a pilot study of contact histories

Abstract

The archaeological methodology introduced in Chapter 6 of this volume is used further here to identify aspects of cross-cultural interaction embedded in the Official collection assembled in British New Guinea by William MacGregor, Administrator and later Lieutenant Governor between 1888–1898. The aim of this pilot study is to explore the effects of variable contact histories on how Papuans resident in four regions of the colony selected the kinds of objects they offered when engaging in exchange with William MacGregor and his officers and to trace variations in their choices through time. Although overall assemblage structure is generally stable throughout the relatively short period when the Official collection was acquired, temporal differences in the character of the material acquired in the North-East Division, where many communities were experiencing westerners for the first time, illustrate how people altered the character of the goods offered to MacGregor to increase their access to trade goods.