Baikaboria Ossuary and the origins of the Kesele Clan, Upper Kikori River, Papua New Guinea

A growing body of archaeological research in the western Gulf of Papua and its associated river systems has high- lighted the dynamic nature of occupation over the last few thousand years (Rhoads 1983; David 2008; David et al. 2010; McNiven et al. 2010; Barker et al. 2012; Barker et al. 2015; David et al. 2015). For example, it has been posited that the articulating stone-sago-pottery production systems and trade relations between the upper, middle and lower Kikori River effected regional polities, including marking the beginning of the social system which produced the headhunting cults described ethnographically (David et al. 2010; Barker et al. 2015). This paper contributes to this body of evidence by utilising contemporary oral history and ar- chaeology to establish the timing of major social changes in the form of Kesele clan establishment and changes to the control and use of land on the upper Kikori River. It is proposed that the impact of long distance trade networks such as the hiri pottery trade may have been one of the catalysts for changes to clan structures.