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The Holocene sequence of buried agricultural earthworks at Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea is of global theoretical interest to both archaeologists and palaeoecologists. The discovery of what seems to represent an independent hearth of agricultural emergence and intensification within the highland valleys of Papua New Guinea, which is argued to be of equal antiquity to that of anywhere else in the world (Golson and Hughes, 1980), has, in part, fuelled the questioning of the applicability within the tropics of theoretical frameworks pertaining to the origins of agriculture derived from work on sites associated with temperate zone subsistence systems. This questioning derives from: the interpretation that this hearth of agriculture does not appear to have lead to exponentially expanding populations prone to a pressure to disperse in search of more land (Harris, 2002), but, rather, archaeological and palaeoecological examinations of the site lend to an interpretation of periodic intensification leading to environmental degradation which fuelled technological innovation thus spurring continued degradation within relative spatial confinement., Master's thesis. Shawn O'Donnell (u4606935); ARCH 8031; M. Arch.Sci. 2009

The Jimi River falls four kilometres down the northern slopes of the Bismarck Range, and has cut a deep valley into the edge of the central mountain chain. Over the few million years of its battle with the Highlands, one episode has temporarily defeated the river. It could not cope with the overwhelming mass of debris avalanching down from the volcanic vents of the Hagen Range. While the southern part of the Lai was filled by ash and mud lahars to form the Wahgi plain, other ashes were swept down the Lai to form immense alluvial fans that blocked the lower Jimi and spread out into tributary valleys. The main volcanic activity ceased about 200,000 years ago; since then erosion has cut steep gorges along the northern end of the Ruti plain. However, that part of the valley called the Ruti Flats is still infilled by hundreds of metres of volcanic debris and presents, like the Wahgi, a gentle hummocky topography that contrasts with the sweep of the ranges above it. ... [_truncated_], Chapter 6