Paleo-landscapes, radiocarbon chronologies, and the human settlement of southern lowland and island Papua New Guinea

Coastal and lowland landscapes played a pivotal role in the dispersal of our species through Pleistocene New Guinea (northern Sahul) and were the focus of increasingly intensive settlement throughout the Holocene. This chapter assesses the current breadth of archaeological and palaeo-ecological records for the lowlands (≤ 100▒m above sea level) and islands of southern Papua New Guinea to contextualise past human use of these dynamic landscapes. A meta-analysis of available radiocarbon dates (n▒=▒687) suggests fluctuating but generally increasing population densities from the end of the mid-Holocene as people adapted their settlement strategies to stabilising coastlines and expanding maritime trade networks.