Agriculture

It is estimated that PNG was first inhabited somewhere around 60,000 years ago. These inhabitants initially were primarily reliant on the hunter/gatherer system of providing food, however, it does not seem it was long after their arrival that they began to cultivate the natural resources of the area. This emergence of agriculture in PNG is thought to have been occuring at the same time as agriculture was in the Mesopotamia and Egyptian region, also known as the Fertile Crescent.
When Europeans first arrived, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands--while still relying on bone, wood, and stone tools--had a productive agricultural system. PNG is home to some of the most fertile areas in the world, mostly located in the highlands of the island. Agriculture was mostly devoted to the natural resources of the area, such as sugarcane, Pacific bananas, yams, and taros in the begining, however in the past few decades, a shift has moved to focusing in the growth of sweet potatoes and pigs.

The aspect of this which intrigued me the most is in regards to how uniformly the use of agriculture seems to have been mastered all over the island. Again, I must come back to the idea that PNG is made up hundreds of separate cultures. To me, it seems as if it would be necessary for there to be at some form of communication present between different PNG cultures, a communication perhaps based upon watching and learning, considering the diversity of languages. This uniformity in agricultural practices may be a key in being able to tie all of these separate cultures together.