Archaeozoological Records for the Highlands of New Guinea: A Review of Current Evidence

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Archaeozoological records for seven occupation sites in the highlands of New Guinea are presented and reviewed. The sites were originally excavated between 1959 and 1981. More recent excavations have not documented comparable archaeozoological records. This paper aims to summarise unpublished research, together with some previously published results, for a broader audience, and elicit general trends within the data. Of significance are methodological insights, observations on Pleistocene and Holocene extinctions and the introduction of exotic fauna, and implications for understanding land-use and socio-economic histories during the late Holocene.