Flag Fen & the rapid journey of a Stone Age highlands people
04 November 2015
DANIEL KUMBON
DR Francis Pryor, the curator of the excavation site at Flag Fen in East Anglia, UK, wasted no time to take us on an extraordinary journey – one that catapulted me back into antiquity.
Three thousand years ago, on this very site, was a Bronze Age village. All around the water of a shallow lake. People living on a man-made island built using thousands upon thousands of pieces of wood.
Living in smoke-filled thatched houses, these people were the descendants of Stone Age hunters and gatherers who had gradually settled on the land – planting crops and domesticating animals.
As they crafted axes and other tools from bronze, so the transition to the Bronze Age was made. This was a time of tribal societies where individual warriors ruled supreme. It began shortly after 2,000BC, and ended around 600BC with the widespread adoption of iron tools and technology. Flag Fen belongs to the Bronze Age.
Dr Pryor explained how 10,000 years ago, because the weather was getting warmer, the water which had been locked in ice during the Ice Age began to melt. Very slowly, over thousands of years, the melting water flooded over lower ground, making shallow lakes.
At Flag Fen one group of people made an island of logs and sticks in the lake and built a village on it. These were the ruins which Dr Pryor was showing us.
Although there were lower, more convenient hill sites that could have been chosen, many people still preferred the really difficult and more defensive locations. But here there were no hills so the Flag Fen lake village was built in open water – perfect visibility for miles around.
We walked back to the visitor’s centre and viewed the photographs and some of the tools found in the ancient lake village. These included a wooden ladle, a small pot, a socketed axe, seeds animal bones and others.
Human beings came to Sahul Land - a land mass which included New Guinea and Australia - before the end of the last Ice Age. They may have arrived by boat or bamboo raft across low swampy areas from the Philippines, needing to cross only 80 kilometres of water.
Human remains dated at around 45,000 years ago have been found on the Papua New Guinea coast while, in the highlands, recent discoveries show people were there almost as long ago.
In his book A Short History of PNG, Dr John Dadeno Waiko noted that the first evidence of gardening came from the way in which the highlands people established systems to manage water.
“In particular it is of interest how the swamps were drained to bring water to grow crops at Kuk near Mt Hagen in the Western Highlands about 9,000 years BP (before present),” Dr Waiko wrote. “If this evidence is accurate, it seems likely that these highland people were amongst the first gardeners in the world.”
If this is true, as many scholars believe, then we can rightly be puzzled about why the highlands people didn’t advance to another Age?
What amazes me most was that I was born into a Stone Age society only about 40 years before I found myself at Flag Fen standing in modern clothes viewing this ancient site – evidence of a people who had managed to evolve to another Age.
My ancestors had lived in complete isolation only to be discovered and exploited quite recently by, at the time, a more advanced people.
The last 70 years has been a major and rapid transformation for us.
There has been litigation over an article by Jared Diamond entitled "Vengeance is Ours", which related events in the Kutubu area as told by an informant.
The article, relying on an informant from the area tells of various revenge killings etc., including some killings purportedly carried out by the informant.
However, after the article was published - apparently using real names - the informant claimed that he was misrepresented.
The question is whether the informant boasted and exaggerated his own role in revenge killing when telling his story to Diamond, and later felt threatened when this became known, or whether Diamond misrepresented what the informant told him.
Generally speaking I find that Jared Diamond writes very positively about PNG and the PNG people.
Posted by: Garry Roche | 05 November 2015 at 09:54 AM
I have not seen or read any of Jared Diamond's books yet but something he wrote about the Karamui people, I think did not go down well with them in his book 'Guns, Germs and Steel'. I think some Karamui elites are seeking legal advise on this.
Posted by: Arnold Mundua | 04 November 2015 at 08:03 PM
Absolutely spot on Garry. So why is it the tropical forests of PNG are being continually cut down and not replanted?
All the talk fests in the world haven't come up with an answer to human greed and lack of planning. Short term gain (but only for some) will cause long term pain for the many.
Lau diba las. Mi les lo displa toktok na maus wara. Husat inap lo sanap na stapim dispela pasin a? Las momo kani.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 04 November 2015 at 07:50 PM
There is another book by Jared Diamond called "Collapse", which if I remember correctly describes the PNG Highlands Jiwaka and Hagen areas as an example of a culture that successfully adapted to changing environmental factors, to ensure that it did not "collapse". The planting of trees was one important element.
Posted by: Garry Roche | 04 November 2015 at 02:12 PM
Daniel, again a good read. The Kuk drainage is a very interesting prehistory find.
At Mugmamp, about 10 kilometers east of Kuk, similar drainages and agricultural tools were found by forestry workers as they were digging drains for the establishment of forest plantations.
My.guess is taro must have been the root crop around that time because they do well in the swamps. When kaukau came on the scene agriculture moved to the dry ground.
Posted by: Arnold Mundua | 04 November 2015 at 01:10 PM
Thanks Paul, Garry and Peter for your comments. 'Guns, Germs and Steel' sounds like a good book to read. I have never seen it or heard about it. I don't know where or how to purchase it.
________
Diamond's book is available from Amazon. The link is http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552 - KJ
Posted by: Daniel Ipan Kumbon | 04 November 2015 at 12:11 PM
Diamond makes the point that it is essentially about opportunity as well as intent. The basis of the Eurasian opportunities to grow and store food such as grain (wheat, barley and rice) helped them develop. Also draft animals like horses, cattle and donkeys etc. were native to this mega continent and could be brought, traded or captured.
All these assets were not available to the original people who settled New Guinea and Australasia.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 04 November 2015 at 11:45 AM
Daniel asks "Why the highlands people didn't advance to another Age". The author Jared Diamond suggests several theories in his book "Guns, Germs and Steel". Worth reading.
Isolation was probably a factor for the highlands. As for "exploitation" - I would never attempt to exploit an Engan! They are tough negotiators and make tough bargains!
Posted by: Garry Roche | 04 November 2015 at 08:01 AM
Hi Dan, Jared Diamond's book, I think it is called 'Guns, Germs and Steel', makes a convincing argument for the ability to generate surplus food as the catalyst that began the evolution of stone age societies.
Jared has been a 'PNG fan' since the late '60's and is a world renown US Geographer - Ethnologist as well as clearly being a down to earth and perspicacious dude.
His book was sparked by meeting Yali, who needs no introduction, as they met and walked along a beach in Madang in the 1970's.
Yali asked the same question that you have posed. Professor Diamond's book is a fascinating read. Highly recommended.
Posted by: Peter Turner | 04 November 2015 at 06:29 AM