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98 kept primarily to offshore islets, presumably because the mainland shore was defended by its Papuan inhabitants and also because the sailing migrants were adapted to survival in shoreline environments. Often local trading systems developed to capitalize on the trade of highly valued prestige goods produced in specifi c communities. For example, decorated bowls produced only in the Tami Islands (fi g. 13) circulated around the shores of the Huon Gulf, valued as bridewealth goods in communities that could obtain them only through trade. Farther east, the larger islands of the Bismarck chain, including New Britain and New Ireland (fi g. 11), are mostly Austronesian speaking, and each region has developed its own unique styles of art. A canoe prow ornament from New Georgia (fi g. 12) testifi es to the central importance of watercraft and also provides another example of spirit beliefs represented in art. Beyond the southern Solomons, however, a voyager confronts a yawning gap of over two hundred miles of open ocean—a gap that early Papuan settlers never crossed. For this reason, the region up to that point is called “Near” Oceania—still shared by Austronesian and Papuan peoples today. FIG. 12 (above): Canoe prow ornament. New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Probably 19th century. Wood, shell, pigment. H: 23 cm. Edward and Mina Smith Collection. Image courtesy of The Fowler Museum at UCLA. FIG. 13 (right): Ceremonial bowl. Tami Island, Huon Gulf, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Probably 19th century. Wood. L: 76 cm. Sam and Sharon Singer Collection. Image © courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2016. FIG. 11 (above): Malagan display mask. Northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Probably 19th century. Wood, pigment, opercala shell. W: 75 cm. Valerie Franklin Collection. Image courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA.


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