Contiguous Multi-Proxy Analyses (X-Radiography, Diatom, Pollen, and Microcharcoal) of Holocene Archaeological Features at Kuk Swamp, Upper Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea

Contiguous multi-proxy analyses (X-radiography, diatom, pollen, and microcharcoal) have been conducted oil the fills of early, mid-, and mid-late Holocene features at, Kuk Swamp, Upper Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea. The features are associated with key periods of archaeological interest: plant exploitation (ca. 10,000 cal yr B.P), earliest cultivation (6950-6440 cal yr B.P), and earliest ditches (ca. 4000 cal yr BY). The analyses are designed to clarify uncertainties regarding the reliability and association of different, samples within feature fills for the interpretation of human activities oil the wetland in the past. Methodologically, these investigations have clarified site formation processes, including pedogenesis within feature fills, which enable a better determination of archaeological associations for different samples within those fills. Substantively, the results provide higher resolution interpretations of paleoenvironments past human activities on the wetland margin. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.