Ecology of a Tool: The Ground Stone Axes of Irian Jaya (Indonesia) (Archeo Logiques) (in English)
Synopsis "Ecology of a Tool: The Ground Stone Axes of Irian Jaya (Indonesia) (Archeo Logiques) (in English)"
New Guinea, and especially Papua New Guinea, is the last country in the world where ethnologists were able to closely observe, film and photograph the whole manufacturing chaînes opératoires of polished stone felling tools, from quarry extraction to finished tool use. Research on the polished blades of PNG has evolved over the years, following changing philosophies and research agendas. While it is clear that an exceptional sum of information has been gathered, it remains centered on that small part of the Highlands where conditions for field research were more pleasant than elsewhere. Our presentation of Irian Jaya axes therefore tackles a topic that remains mostly unexplored. Until now, stone tool research in New Guinea has followed an anthropocentric approach, in which tools are seen more as vectors for social exchanges than as means of acting on the environment.This monograph will take a different approach. Here, polished stone blades are placed at the center of the world, between, on one side, the transformed natural environment, and, on the other, the social and economic environment. This approach will allow us to suggest new avenues of inference in archaeology, as well as to test and abandon existing ones. In this volume, the stone blade is considered as a living being, existing in balance within its biotope. This idea is not far removed from the beliefs of Irian Jaya farmers,for whom life animates certain objects of their material culture.Following a brief presentation of Irian Jaya, we will describe the function of polished stone blades in Irian Jaya societies and the distribution of hafting styles, define and study the quarrying zones and the areas of diffusion and use of their production, and,if possible, the different trends noted in each area of polished blade production and exchanges. Finally, we will conclude with a discussion of the ethnoarchaeological potential of these contemporary observations.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPreface (by Polly Wiessner)IntroductionForeword to the English edition1. Polished stone blades as means of social and technical reproduction1.1. An island open to global economies1.2. Raw material determinisms1.3. Axes and Adzes2. The Yeleme quarries (Kp. Paniai) and the polished blades of Central Irian Jaya2.1. Rocks from the upper Ye-I River2.2. The Wang-Kob-Me quarry2.3. The Brahire quarry in Ye-Ineri2.4. Blocks from the bed of the Ye-I River2.5. From roughout to axe in Wano country2.6. The Axe Trail2.7. Accessing roughouts: the Yamo Dani perspective2.8. From roughout to axe among the Yamo Dani2.9. The expansion of the Western Dani and the acceleration of exchanges2.10. The Baliem and the realm of adzes2.11. Axes and adzes, the prestige of stone blades2.12. Partners and strangers: the limitation of exchanges3. Material and social techniques of the Dani: black rocks and greenschists3.1. The black rocks of Gomburu (Kp. Paniai)3.2. The black rocks of Tagi (Kp. Jayawijaya)3.3. Black rock axes and sacred objects3.4. The quarries of Awigobi and greenschist blades3.5. Ye-yao, the exchange axes4. Adzes of the Eastern Highlands (Kp. Jayawijaya)4.1. From rock to adze in Langda4.2. Stone blade production in the Phu Valley and the westward expansion of adzes4.3. Yamyhl, Red Digul and the Seashell Trail5. Ormu-Wari and the Lowland axes5.1. The Mumugo Valley and schist axes5.2. Ormu and marriage axes6. The polished blades of Irian Jaya, a synthesis6.1. A shared background: the balance between natural environment, modes of subsistence and population density6.2. Rocks and types of sources6.3. Quarry access and the social context of quarrying6.4. Quarrying techniques6.5. Duration of the quarrying events6.6. From rock to polished blade: segmentation of the chaîne opératoire6.7. Shaping roughouts: raw material determinisms6.8. Manufacture and specialization6.9. Polishing and polishing stones6.10. Axes and adzes6.11. Intensity of polishing6.12. Length of the stone blades6.13. Handles for felling tools6.14. Circulation of the blades6.15. Stone blades for the living7. Postface
