Antoni Judit: „Ablakok Pápua Új-Guineára" (Távoli világok emberközelben II. Gödöllői Városi Múzeum, 2008)

for the present-day dwellers of Papua New Guinea to get to know their predecessors' way of life, and to prevent the details of their common culture trom being lost. For the sake of experiment, Emese made a comparison between the local names of a few objects collected by Bíró in the island of Ali, and their present-day local names. Peter Soles Kayang, a language teacher from Ali, assisted her in this work. This experiment indicated that the names had not significantly changed during the 100 years that elapsed, and it has to be noted that Bíró was very precise when making his records. It also showed that many of the expressions related to the spirit houses have disappeared from the language as it is used today. This dying out, or "eradication", of local beliefs is a characteristic result of efficient missionary activity. Thanks to the English translation of Parkinson's article, some of the descendants of those about whom Parkinson wrote were able to express their opinion of his work in the same publication. In this way, historical analysis has been extended to a new dimension, establishing a direct link with the present. Emese's view was that similar analyses of other ethnological collections made in earlier eras were desirable: it would therefore be necessary to also translate Biro's material into English, and to make it available to present-day Papua New Guineans so that they could relate it to their own oral traditions and arrive at an effective synthesis. Emese had already started this work by publishing several excerpts from Biro's descriptions, notes and letters in English. If the task of a more serious comparison between present-day conditions and those in Biro's time is envisaged, more thorough collecting work should be undertaken in the places in which Bíró collected his material, and this work should be carried out with the involvement of representatives of the local population. Emese took the initial steps towards this, and it is to be hoped that the time will come when this work can be continued in Papua New Guinea. Natural environment: mineral raw materials, flora and fauna, and their utilization Local people traditionally used every material available to them with the exception of metals. Metalworking was unknown in New Guinea (or indeed elsewhere in Oceania). Tools made from various kinds of stone included axe-heads and hoe-axes, sago pounders, mortar and pestles, mace heads and knife blades. Less frequently, stone statues were also made. In terms of minerals, clay was used for ceramics, and for the preparation of paints. As in the rest of Oceania, the potter's wheel was unknown. Two main techniques were used in making pots: the ancient spiral or annular technique, typical of the Papuans, and the paddleand-anvil technique spread by, and learned from, the Austronese peoples. Although this latter is mainly used by the descendants of the Austronese living in the islands and in the coastal regions, the two techniques are sometimes used in combination. Snails and scallops showing an extraordinary variety of form and beauty were widely used by peoples living on or near the coast, whether in their natural state or substantially worked. Shell money was prepared from the shell of the enormous Tridacna gigas mollusc. Shell rings were used by the Yangoru and other related peoples living south of Wewak. Even more important is the "talipun", an object made of the shell of the large green sea-snail (Turbo marmoreus), or of that of the Australian Trumpet (Syrinx aruanus). Decorated with bast plait work, it is both an important means for paying bride price and also assures the health and fertility of the family and of the garden. The trade of the kina shell (a semi-lunar jewel cut from the shell of the black-lip pearl oyster) has been flourishing for millennia between the Highlands and the coastal region. The inhabitants of New Guinea have always used animal bones in the creation of their more valued objects and jewellery. Bone daggers - in use nearly everywhere - are made from the carved and polished thighbone (femur), or less frequently the shinbone (tibia), of the two cassowary species living in the island: the larger Casuarius casuarius and the dwarf cassowary, Casuarius bennetti. The raw material for bone cutlery is provided by the shinbone of pigs, both domesticated and wild. The peoples living by the sea and rivers have also utilized the bones of certain fish species for the preparation of part of their instruments, but the most frequently-encountered objects are those made of tortoise bone. Smaller items and jewellery were often prepared from the wing bone of marsupial mammals (e.g. the flyingfox and fruit-bat), or, less frequently, from the splint bone of the small marsupial dwarf kangaroo, the wallaby. Dog's teeth have always been valuable. They were 137