This book has taken over a decade to research and write. There were periods when the project became overwhelming and I was disheartened. To all those colleagues and friends who gave their time to provide encouragement and constructive comments I am truly grateful. I particularly wish to thank Jack Golson along with Chris Ballard, Mark Busse, Tim Curtin, Frederick Errington, Deborah Gewertz, Harry Jackman, Mary LeCroy, Robin Torrence and Peter J. White.
I also wish to acknowledge the help of Father John J. Tschauder S.V.D. for locating and translating various German texts. Other German translations were made by Philip Holzknecht, Father Theo Aerts, Sylvia Ohnemus and Claire Smith. Dutch material was translated by Adri Govers, Tim Bruwer and Marsha Berman; Danish by Tim Bruwer and Indonesian by J.H. Siregar and Jack Zieck.
For various forms of help, I also wish to thank: Bryant Allen, Wally Ainui, Clive Alexander, the late Arnold Ap, Peter Bellwood, Michele Bowe, Jennifer Broomhead, Geoffrey Bundu, Joe Chan, Ian Craven, Tony Crawford, Frances and Tony Deklin, Robert Depew, Tom Dutton, 7Soroi Marepo Eoe, the late Anthony Forge, K.W. Galis, Rick Giddings, Anton Gideon, Ian Glover, Mclaren Hiari, Stalin Jawa, Charlotte Kamaya, Stuart Kirsch, Navu Kwapena, Nancy Lutkehaus, Roy Mackay, Herman Mandui, Wilma Marakan, Mary Mennis, James Menzies, Bill Mitchell, Douglas Newton, Andrew Pawley, William S. Peckover, Philippe Peltier, Harry Persaud, Simon Poraituk, Dan Potts, Jan Pouwer, Judith Robertson, Peter Sack, J.W. Schoorl, Dirk Smidt, Dorota Starzecka, James Urry, Gabor Vargyas, Michael P. Walters, Paul Wanga, Virginia-Lee Webb and Jack Zieck.
For photo archive and other library assistance I wish to thank the staffs of the American Museum of Natural History; Australian Museum Library, Sydney; Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Leiden; the British Reading Room and Newspaper Library of the British Library, London; Ethnographical Museum, Budapest; Frobenius-Instituut, Frankfurt (Main); Fotobureau, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Amsterdam; the Linden Museum, Stuttgart; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Mitchell Library, Sydney; Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm; Photo Archives, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden; Wildlife Conservation Society, New York; the PNG National Museum Library; the PNG National Archives; the New Guinea Collection and Interloan Department of the Michael Somare Library of the University of Papua New Guinea, and the New Guinea Collection and Interloan Department of the PNG National Library.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission, but this has not been possible in all cases. Any omissions brought to our attention will be remedied in any future editions.
The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in New York provided funds to purchase copies of this publication for Papua New Guinea’s universities and public libraries.
Our increased understanding of New Guinea’s prehistory has required some revisions to the text. The rest of the publication remains as first published.
Pamela Swadling
2019