In several regions of West Papua, numerous archaeological traces have been found. In Teluk Wondama Regency, some remains of ancient Austronesian humans were found and researchers predict there are still a lot to explore and discover in other areas of Papuan land. Here are some prehistoric traces found in Fef District in Tambrauw Regency and Forir Village in Kokas District, Fakfak Regency.
Fef District, Tambrauw
Traces of prehistoric human life have been found in Fef District, Tambrauw Regency, West Papua. Archaeologist Adi Dian Setiawan confirms that there are prehistoric traces in some caves in the district. It is proven by the discovery of pottery fragments and flintstones.
On the discovery, the pottery fragments were found along with some bone and tooth fragments of human and animal in Fef District. What makes it more interesting is the finding of flintstones. It is amazing because humans at that time were not quite familiar with metal. They used stones like flintstones whose hardness is more than 3 or 5 on the Mohs scale as tools used for household needs such as meat cutter.
At the research site which is a mountainous area, shells have also been found indicating an interaction between people living in the mountain and coastal areas in prehistoric times. By now, the objects found at the research site have been investigated more deeply for finding more details, like the estimated age of the objects and the pattern of prehistoric human habitation in the Tambrauw area.
Forir Village, Kokas District, Fakfak
Research at the Forir Village and Sosoraweru Cave was conducted by archaeologic experts. From the research, it is shown a number of contexts for Austronesian issues including: red-slip pottery fragments, a niche burial system and wall paintings indicating the influence of Austronesian culture. In addition, it is also known that the sites in Forir Village and Sosoraweru Cave were functioned as settlements in the past.
Forir Village is administratively located in the Kokas District, Fakfak Regency, West Papua Province. In the village, specifically at the Forir Old Village Site, the cliff wall painting site around Forir Village, and the Sosoraweru Cave Site, various prehistoric traces have been discovered as follows.
Forir Old Village Site
At the Forir Old Village Site (Situs Kampung Lama Forir), archaeological remains were found in the form of 6 ornamental pottery fragments. The ornamental pottery fragments consisted of 4 pottery edges, one pottery body fragment and one pottery base fragment. In addition, 23 plain pottery fragments were also found consisting of 6 edge fragments, 14 body fragments, 2 base fragments and 1 pot lid handle fragment. The colors of the surface are of black, brown and red slips which are characteristic of Austronesian culture.
The researchers found not only pottery but also ceramic fragments. There were 11 ceramic fragments found consisting of 4 bottom bowls, 1 European edge ceramic, 1 Ming, 2 European plate bodies and 3 Ching plate bottoms. All these findings were obtained from the beach in sea water.
Cliff Wall Painting Site
These cliffs are coral islands. The cliff walls rise perpendicular to the sea water, while the bottom has been eroded by sea water. On the wall of these cliffs are archaeological remains in the form of wall paintings. These cliffs include:
Ndamirweru Cliff
The wall paintings on Ndamirweru Cliff are found with patterns in the form of handprints (seven on the north side and three on the east side), dots and turtles. These wall paintings are red.
Aintura Cliff
The patterns of the paintings on Aintura Cliff are handprints, circles, crosses and elongated dots up to about 30 meters. The wall paintings here is also red.
Fotamramo Cliff
On Fotamramo Cliff, some patterns were found including handprints, starfish, humans, geometric shapes, masks and fish. The paintings are in red and yellow.
Sosoraweru Cave Site
Administratively, Sosoraweru Cave is situated in the eastern part of Forir Village, Kokas District, Fakfak Regency. To reach the site, you can ride a speed boat or a longboat from Kokas to Forir Village for about an hour. On the surface of the cave, several archaeological remains in the form of 22 pottery fragments, both plain and ornamental, consisting of 2 plain pottery fragments at the edges, 17 body fragments and 3 ornamental fragments at the edges were found.
Another finding is black cave wall paintings on the cave ceiling. The height of the paintings from the cave floor is between 1 to 2 meters. The paintings are in the form of geometric shapes such as lines that form rectangles and triangles. Unfortunately, some paintings haven’t been able to identify as they have faded. Another panel is on the ceiling of the center of the cave with abstract painting in black.
The excavation at the Sosoraweru Cave Site was opened in 3 boxes with findings in the form of pottery fragments, mollusk shells, crab fragments, fish bone fragments, animal bone fragments, burnt shell fragments, limestone grains, skin or layers of stone fragments predictably used for combustion furnace, burnt clay, skewer tools, charcoal, bone tools, stone tool materials and bird feathers.
Those are some highlights of prehistoric traces found in West Papua.
