PEARLSHELL SYMBOLISM IN HIGHLANDS PAPUA NEW GUINEA,WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE WIRU PEOPLE OF SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE

Pearlshells, in their use in exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, have usually been analysed as 'power tokens' in a political context dominated by big men. This article attempts to account for the historically recent acceptance and use of pearlshells in terms of symbolic and aesthetic, rather than political and economic, values. The symbolism of two types of pearlshell found among Wiru people is considered, and an overview of available material on pearlshells in the Highlands is presented. A comparative perspective using historical, ethnographic and linguistic evidence, supports the claim that pearlshells were incorporated into ceremonial exchange because of their symbolic and aesthetic connections with the natural world and a cycle of death and regenesis.