The Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in which the ancestral past is constantly being (re)interpreted and negotiated. This paper examines the importance of subsurface archaeological and geomorphological features for the various communities of Orokolo Bay in the Gulf of Papua as they maintain and re-construct cosmological and migration narratives. The everyday practices of digging and clearing for agriculture and house construction at antecedent village locations bring Orokolo Bay locals into regular engagement with buried pottery sherds (deposited during the ancestral hiri trade) and thin strata of ‘black sand’ (iron sand). Local interpretations and imaginings of the subsurface enable spatio-temporal interpretations of the ancestors' actions and the structure of ancestral settlements. These interpretations point to the profound entanglement of orality and material culture and suggest new directions in the comparative study of alternative archaeologies.

中文翻译：

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挖掘和解释祖先的行动：巴布亚新几内亚Orokolo湾地下的故事

巴布亚新几内亚的巴布亚湾是一个快速变化的地貌和文化景观，在这里不断地（重新）解释和协商祖先的过去。本文探讨了巴布亚湾奥罗科洛湾各个社区的地下考古和地貌特征的重要性，因为它们维持并重建了宇宙学和迁徙叙事。在以前的村庄地点进行农业和房屋建设的挖掘和清理的日常做法，使Orokolo湾当地人经常与埋在地下的陶器棚架（在先祖希里贸易中沉积）和“黑沙”（铁沙）薄层接触。对地下的局部解释和想象使得对祖先的行动和祖先定居的结构进行时空解释。