Petroglyphs and place: complex histories at four sites in New Britain

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 anthropomorphic heads and introduced animals. The placement of the art, together with the arrangement of boulders, implies that both restricted and open forms of ceremony were conducted. The similarities between these sites suggest the existence of a precursor to the well-documented recent interaction zone in this part of West New Britain. We speculate that these cultural practices have a much longer history than previously proposed for Island Melanesia.