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April 2026
Project members undertook one month's laboratory analysis of archaeological material from our 2023–2025 excavations. The research was conducted at Museum Loka Budaya, Universitas Cenderawasih, in Jayapura. This work involved cleaning and cataloguing the finds, and then studying stone artefacts, ceramics, animal bones, and small plant remains from the Raja Ampat sites. Based on these studies, the team is now piecing together human behaviour in the deep past, relating to material culture production, hunting and gathering strategies, and cultivation.
August 2025
New fieldwork was undertaken in July–August 2025. This was the second season of our National Geographic Meridian Project, investigating the biocultural heritage landscapes of the Raja Ampat Islands. The researchers included archaeologists, social anthropologists, ecologists, and ethnobiologists (field team 2025: Dylan Gaffney, Ben Utting, Abdul Razak Macap, Poppy Ondikeleuw, Ian Parker, Heron Yando, Adi Dian Setiawan, Klementin Fairyo, Martinus Tekege, Ghia Macap, Digby Gough Boyack, Kalangi Rodrigo, and Taya Fernando).
The fieldwork focussed on the southern part of Waigeo Island. Archaeological survey located several new archaeological sites on the south coast of the island, expanding our regional database to over 160 heritage places. These sites included old village sites, rockshelters, and the seat of the former Raja of Waigeo.
Archaeological excavation targeted three rockshelter sites on Waigeo. We completed digging at a Middle Holocene rockshelter called Ceruk Werabiyai near Warsambin village. Our excavations at this site began in 2024 and reached bedrock in 2025. The team then focussed on two sites inland from Kalitoko village in Mayalibit Bay. These sites were called Abiap Labuta and Banyok Pop. Radiocarbon dating is currently being undertaken at the University of Oxford to determine the age of human activity at these sites. The fauna from the sites indicate a variety of foraging strategies including pig hunting and shellfish collecting.
Ecological fieldwork involved photographic recording of arthropods led by Heron Yando. Heron also collected and sieved leaf litter to identify insects from the forest floor, which are critical to the wider rainforest ecology. The analysis of these specimens will become the first systematic study of arthropods on Waigeo since Evelyn Cheesman’s research in the early twentieth century.
Social anthropological investigations included the observation of new materials and techniques in the region, including fibreglass boat making. These observations will be compared with customary technologies recorded in 2024 to examine the long-term changes to canoes in the islands. Canoes are vital transportation that circulate people, objects, and knowledge around the archipelago. Ethnography also focussed on interactions between local stakeholders and the growing ecotourism industry. Ethnobiological studies involved new descriptions of medicinal plant use, wild fruits, and gardening activities. We also discussed the presence of different animals around Waigeo and how these animals feature as clan totems meaning that they are taboo for hunting and consumption.
The team undertook a community engagement programme, developing on work in 2024. We presented some preliminary results and discussed our ongoing work with members of Kalitoko village. Heron Yando also ran a class for Warsambin primary school pupils, describing the study of biology and the animals of the Raja Ampat Islands. Following the field season, the team denoted copies of the recent book West New Guinea: Social, Biological, and Material Histories (ANU Press 2025) to Universitas Cenderawasih and project partners in Papua.
February 2025
Raja Ampat Archaeological Project members have edited a new book, now available online and freely downloadable. This book, West New Guinea: Social, Biological, and Material Histories, includes fresh information about the human past in the Raja Ampat Islands, as well as other parts of Indonesian Papua. The authors include archaeologists, social anthropologists, linguists, museum curators, and biological anthropologists from within Papua and internationally.
Click the image of the book opposite to download it now!
August 2024
The Raja Ampat Archaeological Project, funded by a National Geographic Society Meridian Project grant, expanded to become much more interdisciplinary in the 2024 field season. The team of 15 researchers and students undertook six weeks of archaeological, ecological, and anthropological fieldwork around Waigeo Island in July and August. During this time, the team was divided into two groups. The first team included Dr Dylan Gaffney, Dr Ben Utting, Abdul Razak Macap, Adi Dian Setiawan, Digby Gough-Boyack, and Alex John, and focussed on northern Mayalibit Bay and the north coast of Waigeo. The second team included Prof Daud Tanudirjo, Dr Marlin Tolla, Dr Anna Florin, Agustin Capriati, Poppy Ondikeleuw, Heron Yando, Alifah, Ghia Macap, and Thomas Prince, and focussed on southern Mayalibit Bay from Warsambin village to Kalitoko.
Archaeological fieldwork included excavations of several cave and rockshelter sites, as well as archaeological survey for new sites. One team excavated a site called Kakit rockshelter in the tropical forest, inland from Warimak village. Two 1 x 1 metre excavations units were dug, expanding about 1.5 m deep. Bone, shell, and pottery were recovered, providing traces of an early camp site. This team also walked from Mayalibit Bay to Kapidiri village on the north coast of Waigeo, surveying for sites to the east and west of the village. The team recorded several historical sites relating to former settlements and wartime structures, as well as a new pottery bearing site. The second team excavated a rockshelter near Warsambin village (provisional radiocarbon dates indicate the site dates to at least the Mid Holocene). They then moved to Kalitoko village to excavate a cave site and survey for unknown archaeological sites. This team was successful in locating several rockshelter and cave sites for future excavation.
Ethnographic studies included the description of pottery making, boat and house production, and hunting and collecting strategies throughout the island. We also examined the 'sasi' system of resource management. Sasi is a way for people in Raja Ampat to restrict access to certain gardens or fishing grounds, which allows these resources to recover. Finally, Abdul Razak Macap recorded oral histories about the archaeological sites and about different parts of Waigeo to help piece together the recent history of people's movement around the island.
The marine ecology team, led by Agustin Capriati, worked with Warsambin community members to survey different types of marine life. The terrestrial ecology team, led by Heron Yando, placed camera traps throughout the island to investigate biodiversity in the densely forested tropical interior of the island. Finally, the ethnobotany team, led by Anna Florin and Poppy Ondikeleuw, documented local plant preparation techniques, collected modern plant samples, and guided archaeological flotation to explore how different plants are used by Raja Ampat people today and how plant use has changed over time.
While in Kalitoko village, the team gave a public presentation to local community members. The presentation included an overview of archaeological excavations, ethnobotanical research, and a question-and-answer session to help describe the project and its results.
December 2023
The Raja Ampat Archaeological Project has been awarded a National Geographic Society Meridian Grant to collaborate with social anthropologists, ecologists, and conservationists. This grant will run from 2024–2025 and will include fieldwork by Dr Dylan Gaffney (Oxford), Dr Agustin Capriati (Wageningen), Dr Ben Utting (Smithsonian), Dr Annette Oertle (Vienna), Prof Daud Tanudirjo (UGM), Prof Marlina Flassy (UCEN), Abdul Razak Macap (BPK Wilayah), Christoph Parsch (Göttingen), Dr Marlin Tolla (BRIN), and Dr Anna Florin (ANU). The next phase of the project will examine present-day subsistence and conservation practices and compare this with the archaeological record. This comparison will be used to describe long term processes of behavioural and ecological change in the islands and to provide insight into future directions for conservation practices.
August 2023
The Raja Ampat Archaeological Project undertook renewed archaeological fieldwork on Waigeo Island in July and August of 2023. The season was led by Dr Dylan Gaffney, Professor Daud Tanudirjo, and Dr Marlin Tolla, and was funded by the British Academy and the Boise Trust. It involved the team spending two months surveying for unknown archaeological sites under the canopy and excavating within a large cave site. Field archaeologists included Zubair Mas'ud (BRIN), Dr Anna Florin (ANU) and Tristan Russell (Otago), alongside undergraduate student Thomas Prince (Cambridge), and local field assistants from the Warsambin and Kalitoko community. The team opened a 6 x 2 m excavation at Mololo, a large system of chambers reaching 100 m deep, home to several species of megabats. Digging down into a series of clay and fire ash deposits, the excavators located stone artefacts as well as animal bones discarded by the humans that occupied the site in the past. Previous radiocarbon dating by the team at the site has shown that the cave was initially occupied during the last Ice Age. Our discovery of fireplaces and charcoal located below the 2018–2019 excavations means that human occupation at the cave is probably earlier than we had initially thought. Further radiocarbon dating, luminescence dating, and artefact analysis is aiming to clarify the precise age.
While on Waigeo, the team also worked with the Warsambin community to promote cultural heritage through public lectures about the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project. They also provided the community with copies of an Indonesian-language book describing the main findings of the Project so far. The design and printing of these community books was undertaken in Oxford and funded by the Evans Fund. This kind of community engagement is essential to ensuring that the flow of knowledge between researchers and local stakeholders is a two-way process.
