Population Growth and Abandonment of Swamplands. A New Guinea Highlands Example

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Abstract
This paper is aimed at providing additional data about the controversy surrounding the extent of the impact of sweet potato introduction to the New Guinea Highlands some 300 years ago. First, the demographic question is discussed through data available on a single tribe (Kawelka) and speculations about the implications for Prehistory are made. Because this tribe has been recently split into two distinct settlements, only tentative statements concerning general responses to population and land pressures are made. The second section of the paper, based on data provided by early Patrol Reports and personal investigations, infers the geographical distribution of tribes, their economy and population densities in the swampy valleys of the Highlands just prior to the sweet potato introduction. Disease epidemic(s) are seen as the reasons of the abandonment of these swamps prior to the European penetration in those areas (1933).

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