Pre‐ L apita decorated wood from A palo, W est N ew B ritain, P apua N ew G uinea

In 1989–1990, part of a wooden artefact with an incised criss‐cross design was recovered from the pre‐ L apita pottery level of the U ‐ L ‐ T area of the A palo site in the A rawe I slands of N ew B ritain, P apua N ew G uinea. The artefact was made from a F icus 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 N ew G uinea region, though zoomorphic stone figurines and pestles and decorated stone mortars of the region are probably of similar antiquity. The artefact adds to the growing body of information about people in the P apua N ew G uinea Islands prior to the appearance of L apita pottery, though the simplicity of the design and its widespread distribution in time and space caution against seeing it as a precursor to the L apita design system. The nature of the original artefact is uncertain.