Jim Specht
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 78106 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Jim Specht |
| PRENOMES | Jim |
| SOBRENOME | Specht |
| ASSINATURA | SPECHT J |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Australian Museum |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8427-6650 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 53 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 244 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 53 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1967 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 9 |
Theresa (Tessa) Fitzgerald Corkill, 1935 to 2024
Reverend Voyce and Père O’Reilly’s excavated collection from Bougainville
This paper considers the transnational collection, interpretation, and circulation of archaeological material acquired in North Solomon Islands (now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville) by Hobart born Methodist missionary the Reverend A. H. Voyce (1899–1984). In 1935, he gave an archaeological assemblage to Father P. O’Reilly, a French Marist priest, in the region to fulfil an ethnographic mission for the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro/ Musé…
Petroglyphs and place
The analysis of cultural practices at four sites near Cape Gloucester and on Uneapa and Garua Islands in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea shows how rock markings and boulder arrangements create special places within physical and social landscapes. Four kinds of rock markings are documented: cupules, abraded surfaces, geometric curvilinear and rectilinear (i.e., composed of straight lines) petroglyphs, and figurative forms including anthropomorp…
Detecting exchange networks in New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Compared to elsewhere in Oceania, the history and character of stone axe‐adze production and exchange in the Bismarck Archipelago is very poorly known. To explore the feasibility of using geochemical analysis to trace past social interaction, we conducted a non‐destructive portable XRF study of 97 ground stone artefacts from archaeological contexts in New Britain and the ethnographic collection at the Australian Museum. The study capitalised on t…
Obsidian from the Jacquinot Bay area, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
The paper describes the analysis by portable XRF (pXRF) of 44 pieces of obsidian from six archaeological sites around Jacquinot Bay in the Pomio District of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. One piece is possibly from a middle Lapita pottery context, but the remainder are undated but almost certainly post-Lapita in age. The pXRF analysis attributes all pieces to New Britain sources: 41 from Mopir and 3 from Willaumez Peninsula. The dominance of…
Stylistic analysis of stone arrangements supports regional cultural interactions along the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
Stone arrangements are frequently encountered on the Australian mainland and islands. They have high significance values to Indigenous Australians and are usually associated with the material expression and emplacement of socio-religious beliefs and associated ceremonial/ritual activities. Despite their ubiquity, stone arrangements are an understudied site type with their distribution and morphological variability remaining poorly documented and …
Exploring Lapita diversity on New Britain’s south coast, Papua New Guinea
Variability in material culture at Lapita pottery sites has long been recognised, but is rarely discussed. Here we explore differences between two Lapita sites on Apugi Island near Kandrian and two in the Arawe Islands on the south side of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In the Arawes, the Apalo and Makekur sites have rich assemblages with shell fishhooks, and coral and shell discs similar to those found in Lapita and later contexts across Oceania…
A Pre-Lapita Structure at Apalo, Arawe Islands, Papua New Guinea
Stilt structures in the inter-tidal zone or over shallow water on fringing reefs are widely accepted as a feature of settlements of the Lapita cultural complex in Near Oceania. Claims for similar structures in a pre-Lapita context at the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, have been queried on several grounds. Re-evaluation of the Apalo evidence, together with 10 additional AMS radiocarbon dates, establishes human acti…
Pre‐Lapita decorated wood from Apalo, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
In 1989–1990, part of a wooden artefact with an incised criss‐cross design was recovered from the pre‐Lapita pottery level of the U‐L‐T area of the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The artefact was made from a Ficus tree species, and has been dated by AMS to 4043–3848 calBP (95.4%). This makes it the oldest directly dated ornamented object in the New Guinea region, though zoomorphic stone figurines and pestles and…
Deconstructing the Lapita Cultural Complex in the Bismarck Archipelago
Prehistory in a nutshell
Organic residue on a stone artefact recovered from the Makekur Lapita site (FOH) on Arawe Island in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, was sampled and dated. The residue is identified as endocarp fragments of a Canarium species nutshell, most likely Canarium indicum L. The artefact, which is made from coralline limestone, is interpreted as a nut‐cracking anvil. AMS dating places its use at approximately 2800 calBP, in Middle–Late Lapita…
Human history and palaeoenvironmental change at Site 17, Freshwater Beach, Lizard Island, northeast Queensland, Australia
Late Holocene patterns of change in occupation and use of islands along the eastern coast of Queensland have long been debated in terms of various drivers, though much of this discussion relates to regions south of Cairns, with comparatively little study of the far northern Great Barrier Reef islands. The numerous middens, stone arrangements and art sites on Lizard Island suggest long-term use by Indigenous people, but recent discoveries of potte…
Dating the appearance of Lapita pottery in the Bismarck Archipelago and its dispersal to Remote Oceania
The Bayesian calibration program OxCal v.4.1.5 is applied to two chronological datasets for early Lapita derived from two comprehensive reviews. The two datasets are supplemented by published ages for early Lapita sites in two key island groups within Remote Oceania: Vanuatu and Fiji. The analyses provide statistically robust chronologies for the emergence of Lapita on Mussau at 3470–3250 cal BP and in the rest of the Bismarck Archipelago at 3360…
Diversity in lithic raw material sources on New Britain, Papua New Guinea
The nature of chert exposures in the Passismanua area of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea is reviewed in light of reports of worked seams of chert in five caves. Extraction of chert at one cave, Ale, began within the last 3,000 years, but such exposures have been used from the late Pleistocene onwards. The nature and quality of the exposures would often have placed severe constraints on the production of flaked tools. The chert sources are comp…
Persistent Traditions in the Face of Natural Disasters
Studies of the technology and function of small retouched stemmed and waisted stone tools from late Holocene sites in central New Britain provide a powerful means for monitoring the effects of the massive W-K2 volcanic eruption (3480–3150 cal BP), after which pottery occurs in this region for the first time. Use-wear and residue studies show that these tools were used for processing soft starchy plant materials (tubers and wood) and cutting and p…
A New Obsidian Source in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Stone Pestles on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea
Archaeology in Melanesia
Tamuarawai (EQS)
In 2007 a new Early Lapita site called Tamuarawai (EQS) was located on Emirau Island, Papua New Guinea. Two seasons of excavation (2007, 2008) have been undertaken. This paper describes the site and some of the preliminary analyses undertaken. Some unusual results suggest that Tamuarawai will make an important contribution to modelling the Early Lapita occupation of the Bismarck Archipelago
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea
Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaebotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeolog…
Type X Pottery, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea
Type X is one of four Post-Lapita pottery styles reported from Huon Peninsula and the Siassi Islands of Papua New Guinea. Previous petrographic work was inconclusive about its likely area of origin but indicated a possible Huon Peninsula source. Renewed analysis of a larger sample supports this conclusion and confirms the use of grog temper. This kind of temper is otherwise not recorded in the New Guinea region, and its use in the production of T…
The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania
Reviewed by: The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania: Papers from the Fourth Lapita Conference, June 2000, Canberra, Australia Jim Specht The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania: Papers from the Fourth Lapita Conference, June 2000, Canberra, Australia. Edited by G. R. Clark, A. J. Anderson, and T. Vunidilo. Terra Australis 17. Canberra: Pandanus Book, Australian National University, 2001. viii + 222 pp. ISBN 1-74076-010-7. Since the…
On New Guinea Hunters and Gatherers
A Pleistocene Landscape in West New Britain, Png
Holocene volcanic activity has created a well-preserved stratigraphic series of prehistoric landscapes in West New Britain, PNG which have enabled the interpretation of changing patterns of land use (e.g. Specht et al. 1991 ; Pavlides 1993; Torrence et al. in press). Recent fieldwork on Numundo Plantation has extended this remarkable record to include five superimposed Pleistocene surfaces each sealed beneath a volcanic tephra. This older landsca…
[Diversity, Continuity and Change in the History of the Bismarck Archipelago] Diversity, Continuity and Change in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea
Dating the appearance of Lapita pottery in the Bismarck Archipelago and its dispersal to Remote Oceania
The Bayesian calibration program OxCal v.4.1.5 is applied to two chronological datasets for early Lapita derived from two comprehensive reviews. The two datasets are supplemented by published ages for early Lapita sites in two key island groups within Remote Oceania: Vanuatu and Fiji. The analyses provide statistically robust chronologies for the emergence of Lapita on Mussau at 3470–3250 cal BP and in the rest of the Bismarck Archipelago at 3360…
Lapita sites of the Bismarck Archipelago
The Lapita questionThe prehistory of the western Pacific has, for the last 30 years, been dominated by the problem of the origins of the present Polynesian and Melanesian cultures (Terrell 1988). In 1961 Golson drew attention to the distribution of highly decorated Lapita pottery, now known to date from between 3500 BP and 2000 BP, which crossed the present-day division between Melanesia and Polynesia. Furthermore, sites with Lapita pottery repre…
Radiocarbon Dates from West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Obsidian sources at Mopir, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
On the island of New Britain obsidian has been found at Talasea, Mopir, Witori and Rabaul. Research has focussed on Talasea but recent fieldwork shows that, in terms of abundance of flaking quality, obsidian exposures at Mopir rank as equal to any in the Talasea area. As forecast by Specht and Hollis (1982:426), current views on obsidian exploitation and exchange can now be refined
Prehistoric Obsidian Exchange in Melanesia
The Talasea region in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea figures prominently in the prehistory of the western Pacific. During the last 12,000 years at least, it was a major source of the obsidian which was transported widely throughout the western Pacific Islands, particularly during the time of Lapita pottery (e.g. Ambrose and Green 1972; Ambrose 1976; Best 1987; Specht et al. 1981; cf. Allen and White in press). In addition, Lapita pot…
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea
Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaebotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeolog…
Deconstructing the Lapita Cultural Complex in the Bismarck Archipelago
Human history and palaeoenvironmental change at Site 17, Freshwater Beach, Lizard Island, northeast Queensland, Australia
Late Holocene patterns of change in occupation and use of islands along the eastern coast of Queensland have long been debated in terms of various drivers, though much of this discussion relates to regions south of Cairns, with comparatively little study of the far northern Great Barrier Reef islands. The numerous middens, stone arrangements and art sites on Lizard Island suggest long-term use by Indigenous people, but recent discoveries of potte…
Holocene mammal faunas from archaeological sites in island Melanesia
Faunal remains from archaeological sites on Buka, Nissan, and Tikopia Islands. Southwest Pacific include a number of taxa not previously recorded from those islands. These are Rattus praetor for both Nissan and Tikopia, and Thylogale brunii. Unicomys poneeleti. and Uromys salebrosus for Buka. R. praetor and T. brunii were probably introduced into the region by humans during the mid Holocene. Following the initial expansion in the ranges of these …
Crabs as Disturbance Factors in Tropical Archaeological Sites
Bioturbation processes can have a major impact on the integrity of archaeological deposits. In coastal tropical Pacific situations, crab burrowing can assist the recognition of sub-surface archaeological deposits, but at the same time may cause very extensive damage to the deposits. Data from Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, allow some quantification of the potential extent of such damages, and draw attention to the problems of interpretation, esp…
Prehistory in a nutshell
Organic residue on a stone artefact recovered from the Makekur Lapita site (FOH) on Arawe Island in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, was sampled and dated. The residue is identified as endocarp fragments of a Canarium species nutshell, most likely Canarium indicum L. The artefact, which is made from coralline limestone, is interpreted as a nut‐cracking anvil. AMS dating places its use at approximately 2800 calBP, in Middle–Late Lapita…
Trade and Exchange in Oceania and Australia
Stylistic analysis of stone arrangements supports regional cultural interactions along the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
Stone arrangements are frequently encountered on the Australian mainland and islands. They have high significance values to Indigenous Australians and are usually associated with the material expression and emplacement of socio-religious beliefs and associated ceremonial/ritual activities. Despite their ubiquity, stone arrangements are an understudied site type with their distribution and morphological variability remaining poorly documented and …
More on Radiocarbon Dates from West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Four radiocarbon age determinations from two archaeological sites in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea are reported
Of Menak and Men
Persistent Traditions in the Face of Natural Disasters
Studies of the technology and function of small retouched stemmed and waisted stone tools from late Holocene sites in central New Britain provide a powerful means for monitoring the effects of the massive W-K2 volcanic eruption (3480–3150 cal BP), after which pottery occurs in this region for the first time. Use-wear and residue studies show that these tools were used for processing soft starchy plant materials (tubers and wood) and cutting and p…
[Diversity, Continuity and Change in the History of the Bismarck Archipelago] What Was the Significance of Lapita Pottery at Talasea
An obsidian flaking area near Talasea, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Detecting exchange networks in New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Compared to elsewhere in Oceania, the history and character of stone axe‐adze production and exchange in the Bismarck Archipelago is very poorly known. To explore the feasibility of using geochemical analysis to trace past social interaction, we conducted a non‐destructive portable XRF study of 97 ground stone artefacts from archaeological contexts in New Britain and the ethnographic collection at the Australian Museum. The study capitalised on t…
A New Obsidian Source in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Type X Pottery, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea
Type X is one of four Post-Lapita pottery styles reported from Huon Peninsula and the Siassi Islands of Papua New Guinea. Previous petrographic work was inconclusive about its likely area of origin but indicated a possible Huon Peninsula source. Renewed analysis of a larger sample supports this conclusion and confirms the use of grog temper. This kind of temper is otherwise not recorded in the New Guinea region, and its use in the production of T…
On New Guinea Hunters and Gatherers
The George Brown Affair Again
A Pre-Lapita Structure at Apalo, Arawe Islands, Papua New Guinea
Stilt structures in the inter-tidal zone or over shallow water on fringing reefs are widely accepted as a feature of settlements of the Lapita cultural complex in Near Oceania. Claims for similar structures in a pre-Lapita context at the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, have been queried on several grounds. Re-evaluation of the Apalo evidence, together with 10 additional AMS radiocarbon dates, establishes human acti…
Petroglyphs and place
The analysis of cultural practices at four sites near Cape Gloucester and on Uneapa and Garua Islands in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea shows how rock markings and boulder arrangements create special places within physical and social landscapes. Four kinds of rock markings are documented: cupules, abraded surfaces, geometric curvilinear and rectilinear (i.e., composed of straight lines) petroglyphs, and figurative forms including anthropomorp…
A Prehistoric Pottery Site in Coastal New Guinea
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Archeology
Of Menak and Men
Research by the Department of Anthropology, The Australian Museum
Research by the Department of Anthropology, The Australian Museum." Australian Archaeology, 3(1), p. 27
An Archaeological Survey on Port Jackson, Sydney
During the period April to December 1975, the Anthropological Society of New South Wales conducted an archaeological survey around Bantry Bay on the northern side of Port Jackson, Sydney. The area surveyed, formerly known as Magazine Reserve, was controlled by the Federal Government until 1974. The reserve, now under the control of Davidson Park Trust, had been closed to public access for 60 years while it was used as a naval explosives depot. Th…
Archaeology
Trade and Exchange in Oceania and Australia
Radiocarbon Dates from West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Archaeology
An obsidian flaking area near Talasea, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Report on a Consultation of Specialists on Ways and Means of Safeguarding the Cultural Heritage of the Pacific Region (Papeete, 15 - 19 December, 1980)
Some shell artefacts from Nauru and Ocean Island
More on Radiocarbon Dates from West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Four radiocarbon age determinations from two archaeological sites in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea are reported
The Time of Darkness
Further Thoughts On De-accessioning (Decessioning) From Australia
Crabs as Disturbance Factors in Tropical Archaeological Sites
Bioturbation processes can have a major impact on the integrity of archaeological deposits. In coastal tropical Pacific situations, crab burrowing can assist the recognition of sub-surface archaeological deposits, but at the same time may cause very extensive damage to the deposits. Data from Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, allow some quantification of the potential extent of such damages, and draw attention to the problems of interpretation, esp…
Acronyms
Acronyms: An Even More Basic Program for Australian Archaeologists?." Australian Archaeology, 21(1), pp. 155–156
Frank Hurley in Papua
Reading the Past , by Ian Hodder
The George Brown Affair Again
Spriggs in Paradise
The author expresses his views and comments on the review of Pieces of Paradise, an exhibition conducted on the Pacific artefacts at the Australian Museum titled, which was written by Matthew Spriggs
Prehistoric Obsidian Exchange in Melanesia
The Talasea region in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea figures prominently in the prehistory of the western Pacific. During the last 12,000 years at least, it was a major source of the obsidian which was transported widely throughout the western Pacific Islands, particularly during the time of Lapita pottery (e.g. Ambrose and Green 1972; Ambrose 1976; Best 1987; Specht et al. 1981; cf. Allen and White in press). In addition, Lapita pot…
Holocene mammal faunas from archaeological sites in island Melanesia
Faunal remains from archaeological sites on Buka, Nissan, and Tikopia Islands. Southwest Pacific include a number of taxa not previously recorded from those islands. These are Rattus praetor for both Nissan and Tikopia, and Thylogale brunii. Unicomys poneeleti. and Uromys salebrosus for Buka. R. praetor and T. brunii were probably introduced into the region by humans during the mid Holocene. Following the initial expansion in the ranges of these …
Stone Structures on McKean Island, Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati
In 1985, 2 Field Survey Squadron, a Sydney-based Australian Army Unit, established a network of coordinated survey stations in the Phoenix Islands to assist the Republic of Kiribati in setting up its Exclusive Economic Zone. In the course of this work Throssell and Gordon Santo were ferried to McKean Island by helicopter on 10 August, 1985. Flying over the island they observed several stone structures which they were able to map during their four…
Debitage
Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (43 obras) · Archaeology (42 obras) · History (42 obras) · Geography (38 obras) · History (29 obras) · Ethnology (26 obras) · New guinea (24 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (18 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (17 obras) · Geology (16 obras)