Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made, used, and exchanged artefacts made from bone and teeth during the twentieth century. Archaeologically, these kinds of artefacts are poorly documented, partly because osseous materials tend to decay rapidly in exposed tropical rainforest sites. Where these artefacts have been found in the Papuan Gulf, only a few have been reported in detail. Here we contribute detailed analyses of eight osseous artefacts from the past village site of Popo which date to within the period 770–220 cal BP. We describe a modified shark tooth, a drilled or pierced dog tooth ornament, several bone points, and a trapezoidal section of modified bone. An ochred bone point shows that people applied pigment to material culture in the period 540–285 cal BP; the item is the only known archaeological evidence for pigment use on bone in the Papuan Gulf. Our analyses provide a starting point for historicising the use of osseous artefacts in this part of the Papuan Gulf.

中文翻译：

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来自巴布亚海湾（巴布亚新几内亚）的Orokolo湾的骨骼和牙齿

人种学记录显示，二十世纪，巴布亚海湾（巴布亚新几内亚）的奥罗科洛湾地区的人们制作，使用并交换了用骨头和牙齿制成的手工艺品。在考古上，这类人工制品的文献报道很少，部分原因是在暴露的热带雨林地区，骨质物质往往会迅速腐烂。在巴布亚湾发现了这些人工制品的地方，只有很少的详细报道。在这里，我们对从Popo过去村庄遗址到BP 770-220 cal时期的八种骨制品进行了详细分析。我们描述了一种修改过的鲨鱼牙，一条钻孔或穿孔的狗牙装饰物，几个骨头点以及一个修改过的骨头的梯形截面。bone骨点表明，人们在540-285 cal BP时期将颜料应用于物质培养。该物品是巴布亚湾唯一已知的在骨骼上使用色素的考古证据。我们的分析为在巴布亚海湾的这一地区历史化使用骨制品提供了一个起点。