New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, yet, despite its size, relatively little archaeological research has been conducted there. Much of the work that has been done occurred in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with comparatively few research projects, primarily by graduate students, since then. Most excavations were relatively coarse by today’s standards, post-excavation occurred before numerous advances in archaeological science and many sites have not been completely published. Several high-quality, often multidisciplinary research projects anchor much of the prehistory of the island. However, a new wave of archaeological investigations is now occurring, in part consultancy-led, and in part academic, that promises great strides in our understanding of New Guinea’s prehistory.

The island is divided between two modern-day nation-states: the western half is incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia as the provinces of West Papua and Papua (both hereafter “Papua”), and the eastern half is part of the independent state of Papua New Guinea (hereafter “PNG”). For largely political reasons, most archaeological investigations have occurred in the eastern half. However, this modern-day political division is largely ignored in discussions of the past here, given the shared historical processes underlying the formation of the peoples, languages and cultures across the island (Pawley et al. 2005).