ABSTRACT
In this chapter, brief overviews of the historical, archaeological and geographical contexts for New Guinea and the highlands region are presented. These contexts signal the importance of place for the reconstruction of agriculture in the past. Each overview provides essential background information to understand the character of cultivation practices and plant ecology in the highlands today (Chapters 4 and 5), as well as to contextualise historical narratives of plant exploitation and cultivation practices in the past (Chapters 6 to 11). The geographical focus is the Upper Wahgi Valley, including the wetland archaeological site of Kuk Swamp, which provides the multidisciplinary record for the emergence and transformation of agriculture.
