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Exploring Ceremony: The Archaeology of a Men's Meeting House (‘Kod’) on Mabuyag, Western Torres Strait

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2016

Duncan Wright ,
Birgitta Stephenson ,
Paul S.C. Taçon ,
Robert N. Williams ,
Aaron Fogel ,
Shannon Sutton ,
Sean Ulm  and
the Goemulgal of Mabuyag
Duncan Wright
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected]
Birgitta Stephenson
Affiliation:
In the Groove Analysis Pty Ltd, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia & School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia Email: [email protected]
Paul S.C. Taçon
Affiliation:
School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, QLD 4222, Australia Email: [email protected]
Robert N. Williams
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected]
Aaron Fogel
Affiliation:
Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment, Griffith University, 170 Kessels, Rd Nathan Campus, QLD 4111, Australia Email: [email protected]
Shannon Sutton
Affiliation:
National Library of Australia, Parkes Place, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia Email: [email protected]
Sean Ulm
Affiliation:
College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University. PO Box 6811 Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia Email: [email protected]
the Goemulgal of Mabuyag
Affiliation:
Goemulgal (cultural heritage organization on Mabuiag), c/o Cygnet Repu, Mabuiag Island, Via Thursday Island, QLD 4875, Australia Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The materiality of ritual performance is a growing focus for archaeologists. In Europe, collective ritual performance is expected to be highly structured and to leave behind a loud archaeological signature. In Australia and Papua New Guinea, ritual is highly structured; however, material signatures for performance are not always apparent, with ritual frequently bound up in the surrounding natural and cultural landscape. One way of assessing long-term ritual in this context is by using archaeology to historicize ethno-historical and ethnographic accounts. Examples of this in the Torres Strait region, islands between Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia, suggest that ritual activities were materially inscribed at kod sites (ceremonial men's meeting places) through distribution of clan fireplaces, mounds of stone/bone and shell. This paper examines the structure of Torres Strait ritual for a site ethnographically reputed to be the ancestral kod of the Mabuyag Islanders. Intra-site partitioning of ritual performance is interpreted using ethnography, rock art and the divergent distribution of surface and sub-surface materials (including microscopic analysis of dugong bone and lithic material) across the site. Finally, it discusses the materiality of ritual at a boundary zone between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and the extent to which archaeology provides evidence for Islander negotiation through ceremony of external incursions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 721 - 740
Copyright
Copyright © McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2016 

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