The Regions: Melanesia

The following ojects originated in Melanesia:

About six million people live in the island groups of Melanesia. The largest island by far is New Guinea, with a population of over five million. Culturally distinct groups live in each island, different in their language and way of life even from their immediate neighbours. Steep-sided valley systems encouraged many small-scale communities to remain separate. There are over 1000 languages in about 270 language groups in Melanesia, many of which have developed in isolation for hundreds of years.

The earliest evidence of farming comes from 6000 years ago, mainly of tropical root crops such as taro, still the staple food. Wealth was measured in pigs and yams. Fish is an important food source in all island groups.

In all islands the village has always been the basic political unit. Scarce resources such as shell ornaments were accumulated in order to gain status. Influential men traded in these items . They controlled the men's meeting house, usually the most dominant building in the village. Only initiated men could enter and care for the sacred objects kept there.

There was as much variation in religious belief as there was in language. Traditionally, a world of spiritual forces existed in parallel to the earthly world. The mediators between the two worlds were the recently dead. Carved masks, boards and figures were used to communicate with the world of ancestors and spirits.

Read more about Bond, Cook, Montague, Van Bussel and Veitch who collected these aretefacts

Visit the site of Jane Resture to find out more about Melanesian Ethnology and the Voyages of the Southern Cross.