Poromoi Tamu and the Case of the Drowning Village: History, Lost Places and the Stories We Tell

Bruno David (1) , Lara Lamb (2) , Jean-Jacques Delannoy (3) , Franck Pivoru , Cassandra Rowe (4) , Max Pivoru , Tony Frank , Nick Frank , Andrew Fairbairn (5) , Ruth Pivoru

1 School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University
2 Public Memory Research Centre, School of humanities and Communication, University of Southern Queensland
3 EDYTEM - Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne
4 School of Geography and Environmental, Monash University
5 School of Social Science, University of Queensland

Archaeological excavations at an ancestral village site within rainforest in Papua New Guinea has revealed buried cultural evidence that can be explained in a number of ways. While interpretations based on Western archaeological methods suggest regional landscape dynamics informed by geomorphological processes, Indigenous Rumu oral traditions suggest an interpretation of the site's stratigraphy based on the workings of spiritual forces. The role of story-telling and new information in site interpretation and understanding is explored in light of these different yet complementary accounts.

Mots clés: Archaeology; Oral traditions; Story-telling; Papua New Guinea; Worldviews

Bruno David, Lara Lamb, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Franck Pivoru, Cassandra Rowe, et al.. Poromoi Tamu and the Case of the Drowning Village: History, Lost Places and the Stories We Tell. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2012, 10 (1), 27p. ⟨10.1007/s10761-012-0183-0⟩. ⟨halsde-00702705⟩