Archaeology in Oceania, Vol. 00 (2016): 1–9 DOI: 10.1002/arco.5110 Revisiting the late prehistoric sequence of the Port Moresby region of Papua New Guinea: The continuing contribution of Susan Bulmer NICHOLAS SUTTON, GABRIELIUS VILGALYS, GLENN SUMMERHAYES and ANNE FORD Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand ABSTRACT Susan Bulmer’s PhD thesis, “Prehistoric culture change in the Port Moresby region”, was a very important, and still often cited, contribution to Papuan South Coast prehistory in the 1970s. Fieldwork for the thesis included the excavation of important sites at Taurama Beach and on Nebira Hill. This paper outlines recent archaeological and bioarchaeological research on stone artefacts, pottery and skeletal materials from these sites and discusses the implications of this research for early ideas about late prehistoric culture change in the Port Moresby region. The results of the recent studies suggest a complex of cultural (Austronesian and Papuan) and environmental influences, as well as population movements into the region over the past 1200 years, leading to the state of affairs at the close of prehistory. This picture is similar to that painted by Bulmer and others during the pioneering period of Papuan South Coast archaeology over 40 years ago. Keywords: Papua New Guinea, pottery, chert, bioarchaeology, Taurama, Nebira R ´ ESUM ´ E Dans les ann´ ees 1970, la th` ese de doctorat de Susan Bulmer intitul´ ee « Changement de culture pr´ ehistorique dans la r´ egion de Port Moresby » a apport´ e une contribution tr` es importante ` a l’´ etude de la pr´ ehistoire de la cˆ ote sud de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guin´ ee. Elle reste une r´ ef´ erence aujourd’hui. Dans le cadre de sa th` ese, Bulmer a men´ e des fouilles sur des sites importants tels que la plage de Taurama et la colline de Nebira. Cet article pr´ esente les r´ ecentes recherches arch´ eologiques et bioarch´ eologiques men´ ees sur les objets en pierre, en poterie et les fragments de squelettes retrouv´ es sur ces sites et examine la fac ¸on dont ces recherches ont permis de r´ e´ evaluer les hypoth` eses initialement formul´ ees sur le changement culturel de la p´ eriode pr´ ehistorique tardive dans la r´ egion de Port Moresby. Les r´ esultats de ces recherches laissent entrevoir un ensemble d’influences culturelles (austron´ esiennes et papoues) et environnementales, ainsi que des mouvements de population dans la r´ egion sur les 1200 derni` eres ann´ ees de la p´ eriode, qui ont men´ e` a la situation telle qu’on la connaˆ ıt ` a la fin de la pr´ ehistoire. Cette vision se rapproche de celle d´ epeinte par Bulmer et d’autres pionniers de l’arch´ eologie de la cˆ ote sud de Papouasie il y a plus de 40 ans. Mots-Cles: Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guin´ ee, poterie, chert, bioarch´ eologie, Taurama, Nebira Correspondence: Nicholas Sutton, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Email: nicholas.sutton@otago.ac.nz INTRODUCTION Susan Evelyn Bulmer initiated the first systematic study of the archaeology of the region around Port Moresby in the late 1960s (Allen, this issue). Bulmer was one of a generation of pioneering researchers who, by the early 1980s, had made the late prehistory of the Papuan South Coast perhaps the best known in Melanesia (Figure 1). From 1968 to 1972, Bulmer’s survey of the Port Moresby region added 71 prehistoric sites to the six that were known Disclosure Statement: The authors have no relevant relationships to disclose. before her work began (Bulmer 1971: 30). Four sites were excavated; Nebira 2 (ACJ), Eriama (ACV) and two separate sites (AJA and AGN) at Taurama Beach. This fieldwork formed the basis of her still often cited doctoral thesis on prehistoric culture change in the Port Moresby region, awarded from the University of Papua New Guinea (Bulmer 1978). Over the past decade, a renewed interest in Papuan archaeology has resulted in the re-analysis of some of the material from these sites. A focus of this research has been on understanding the development of the hierarchical exchange systems operating in the Port Moresby region in historical times (Allen 1977a). This paper begins with a summary of some of the early ideas about the origins of C  2016 Oceania Publications