A recent study of prehistoric life revealed that language and artifacts or archaeological remains could spread without requiring human migration. This research was carried out in Papua and was made possible because of the meeting of two cultures, namely between Austronesian and Australo-Papuan.

As is well known, the nation or speakers of Austronesian languages are one of the ancestors that dominated Indonesia. Austronesian peoples are ethnic groups spread from Southeast Asia to Africa such as Madagascar. Meanwhile, Australo-Papuans [another name for Australomelanesids], are said to be the ancestors of Papuans, whose characteristics are found in Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and also Papua.

The research, published in the international journal Elsevier in 2023, is entitled “Distribution of Austronesian language and archeology in Western New Guinea, Indonesia” written by Erlin Novita Idje Djami, from the Research Center for Prehistoric and Historical Archeology at BRIN and Hari Suroto from the Research Center for Environmental Archeology at BRIN .

In several studies, many Austronesian cultural influences dominate Papua which can be seen in the distribution of ancient sites. However, in this research, Erlin and Hari explained that there is a model for the spread of Austronesian cultural elements that were introduced and absorbed into Australo-Papuan culture, without any direct contact or without migration.

This process with indirect contact can be found in the highlands or currently called the Papua Mountains region.

The contact process cannot be directly known through language, because the spread of language does not always occur in one direction, but can only occur in the opposite direction or in various directions at different times.

Meanwhile, archaeological remains can be traced through cultural elements. However, according to this study, not all Austronesian cultural elements survived during the migration process. Some cultural elements are lost when it comes to adapting to local environmental conditions.

Erlin and Hari wrote that when they moved to the east of the Wallacea region, planting cereals and grains turned out to be unsuitable for the environment. They depend more on tubers, taro, fruits, and maybe sago.

Not all elements of Austronesian culture were new to the Australo-Papuan people who inhabited the island of New Guinea for thousands of years, before the arrival of Austronesian speakers.

“Australians-Papuans are very developed. “They already know about early prehistoric agriculture in the mountains of Papua, when prehistoric humans in western Indonesia were still hunting and gathering,” said Hari Suroto when asked for an explanation, July 23 2023.

In this research, the two of them wrote that a very complex relationship between genetic, linguistic and archaeological records had apparently occurred in West New Guinea, which is now part of Indonesia.

This situation is generally related to the complicated interactions between the Australo-Papuan people who originally inhabited this region, and the Mongoloid population who spoke Austronesian languages who later migrated to this region as well.

The arrival and interaction of Austronesian speakers with the Australo-Papuan population previously resulted in cultural exchange. Speakers of Austronesian languages bring elements of their culture that are quite different from those of previous inhabitants.

The most distinctive cultural elements that do not exist in the Australo-Papuan culture are pottery, megalithic buildings, rectangular axes, chewing betel nut, to domestic animals such as dogs, pigs and chickens.

Linkages with Australia

As is known, from the point of view of flora and fauna, many people know that Papua also has similarities with the Australian continent and can be observed to this day.

According to Hari, the ancestors of the Papuans and Australians had interactions during the late Pleistocene, when the sea was at its lowest level. They crossed the ocean to New Guinea and Australia using canoes or rafts.

“They explored various other islands such as Maluku, reaching Manus Island in the Bismarck Archipelago and reaching Buka Island in the North Solomons.”

He further explained that fluctuations in sea level were potentially important for prehistory, because low levels made islands larger and tended to produce land bridges.

Shorter sea crossings were important, especially for the early settlement of New Guinea and this may be related to one of the low levels of the last 35,000 years or earlier.

“Once upon a time, there was one continent called Terra Australia which included Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and the Aru Islands. This part is called being in the earth’s crust or the Sahul Plate. The animals that live in these four bio-geographical locations have something in common,” he said.

This land connection allows animals from mainland New Guinea to disperse across Australia, and vice versa from Australia to New Guinea. Therefore, the distribution of flora and fauna in these two regions supports the data obtained from the underwater maps and gives a good idea of their geographic origin.

“Fossil evidence that supports the unification of the mainland of New Guinea and Australia during the Pleistocene is the discovery of vertebrate fossils in the form of the mandible or lower jaw of the kangaroo [Zygomaturus nimboraensis] in Nimboran Village, Jayapura Regency,” said Hari.