This thesis is an investigation into what the shell midden material from the Davage 3 site may indicate about Davage’s place in the southern Papuan coast cultural complex of Papua New Guinea. Davage is an ancestral Western Motu site that oral traditions have suggested is the origin point for the hiri trade, an important maritime trade network that connected the Western Motu of the Port Moresby region, who traded pottery and shell valuables, with communities in the Gulf Province, where they obtained sago and canoe hulls. Current dating of the Davage 3 site is 550-900 cal B.P. which places it as just before the well-documented hiri trade network.

The Davage 3 shell midden assemblage is substantial in size and has provided analytical insights into why shell midden should not be examined as purely evidence of subsistence.

The methodological approach taken by this study was laboratory based with both an archaeozoological quantification and a qualitative review of artefacts. This methodology was holistic in nature, identifying both finished artefacts and manufacturing debris associated with their production. As a result this study has provided new insights into shell bead production on the southern Papuan coast, particularly in relation to the manufacturing sequence of Conomurex luhuanus beads. This research has therefore provided new archaeological evidence which places Davage 3 as a centre of shell valuable manufacture, probably associated with the hiri trade, as few finished artefacts were present.

This research has additionally shown that the environmental distribution of shell taxa for artefactual use is different to that of shell for subsistence, which has indicated possible specialised collection trips for shell that is used for artefact manufacture. This study indicates that future archaeological research is needed both at Davage, and has also shown the importance of analysing shell midden material utilising a more holistic approach.