Anthropology Talk

“Banana Prehistory: An Update”

Dr Jean Kennedy
Visiting Fellow
Archaeology and Natural History
RSPAS, Australian National University, Canberra

Revisions of the phylogeny of the edible bananas by biomolecular studies have established that they have a complex origin beginning in the Wallacea–New Guinea region.

Banana phytolith frequencies suggest the cultivation of bananas at the Kuk Swamp site in the highlands of Papua New Guinea about 7000 years ago. Wild bananas are native in Papua New Guinea, but there are none in Africa. Recent African finds of banana phytoliths are dated 5000 years ago. Apart from its significance for African prehistory, this has chronological implications for the New Guinea and wider Pacific region, because genetic evidence relates African bananas to a New Guinea wild species.

Banana phytolith frequencies suggest the cultivation of bananas at the Kuk Swamp site in the highlands of Papua New Guinea about 7000 years ago. Wild bananas are native in Papua New Guinea, but there are none in Africa. Recent African finds of banana phytoliths are dated 5000 years ago. Apart from its significance for African prehistory, this has chronological implications for the New Guinea and wider Pacific region, because genetic evidence relates African bananas to a New Guinea wild species.

Jean Kennedy grew up in New Zealand. She studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of Otago (MAHons 1970) and the University of Hawaii (PhD 1977), specialising in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. She has since 1966 held teaching and research positions at the University of Otago, University of Hawaii, the Australian National University and the University of Papua New Guinea.

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