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The centre cannot hold. Trade networks and sacred geography in the Papua New Guinea Highlands
Author(s) -
BALLARD CHRIS
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
archaeology in oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1834-4453
pISSN - 0728-4896
DOI - 10.1002/arco.1994.29.3.130
Subject(s) - new guinea , framing (construction) , geography , ethnography , agency (philosophy) , exploit , perspective (graphical) , anthropology , ethnology , archaeology , history , sociology , social science , art , computer security , computer science , visual arts
The critical potential of a ‘social landscape’ approach to the past lies in its attention to questions of human agency and scale in the archaeological explanation of change. However, an ethnographic study of trade relationships between Huli‐speakers of the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea and their neighbours suggests that landscapes are a matter of perspective. A ‘hidden’, subterranean landscape described in Huli cosmology is shown to be implicated in the structure of regional trade. Distinguishing between the landscapes of belief within which historic agents acted and the social landscapes identified by external observers is an important step towards framing questions for archaeological research that can exploit the insights of both perspectives.