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 cha nes op ratoires of polished Stone felling tools, from quarry extraction to finished tool use.
Finally, we will conclude with a discussion of the ethnoarchaeological potential of these contemporary observations..
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.
This idea is not far removed from the beliefs of Irian Jaya farmers, for whom life animates certain objects of their material culture.
In this volume, the Stone blade is considered as a living being, existing in balance within its biotope.
This approach will allow us to suggest new avenues of inference in archaeology, as well as to test and abandon existing ones.
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 monograph will take a different approach.
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.
Our presentation of Irian Jaya Axes therefore tackles a topic that remains mostly unexplored.
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.
Research on the polished blades of PNG has evolved over the years, following changing philosophies and research agendas.
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 cha nes op ratoires of polished Stone felling tools, from quarry extraction to finished tool use
