Developing maritime economies of the pre-colonial Massim, Papua New Guinea the making of an island world and the foundations of Kula Ben Shaw

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shaw, Ben (Ben J.), author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in ancient and pre-modern economies

Cambridge elements. Elements in ancient and pre-modern economies, 2754-2955

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kula exchange--History.

Kula exchange.

Massim (Papua New Guinean people)--Economic conditions.

Massim (Papua New Guinean people).

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2026

Summary:

The Massim region of Papua New Guinea has been the focus of intensive ethnographic interest for over a century because of sociocultural practices and maritime economies that connect island populations, including the famed Kula ring. Ethnographic models of Kula have been critiqued as ahistorical and heavily influenced by colonial interventions. This volume explores the long-term history of Massim maritime economies from a predominantly archaeological perspective, but draws on ethnographic, linguistic and biomolecular information. Maritime economies have connected islands for at least 17,000 years, with parallels to historically documented networks emerging over the last 3000 years. The Massim region can be considered as a network of decentralized, micro-world economies that frequently overlapped, were shaped by local value systems, clan affiliations, and defined by strategic advantages of location, natural resources and technologies

Contents:

The Massim islands in time and space

Framing the Massim as an economic region

Modeling deep time histories of the Massim

Formative economies on the fringes of the known world (17,000 to 8,000 years)

Frontier economies of a multicultural island world (8,000 to 3,000 BP)

Fluctuating economies in an island world and the coming of Lapita (3,000 to 1,200 years)

Flourishing economies of opportunity (1,200 to 300 years)

Flexible economies of war and peace (past 300 years)

Local histories, global narratives, and the next frontier

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed July 24, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Shaw, Ben (Ben J.) Developing maritime economies of the pre-colonial Massim, Papua New Guinea

ISBN:

9781009529594

1009529595

9781009529570

1009529579

OCLC:

1576131599

Publisher Number:

CIPO000385686

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license