Wealth Items in the Western Highlands of West Papua

This article compares the distinctive uses of wealth items among Grand Valley Dani, Western Dani, and Me, the largest ethnic groups in West Papua.The time period covered is primarily from first contact with Europeans to the early 1970s.(Wealth items, inalienability, ancestor cult, exchange) The Western Highlands of West Papua extend from the Grand Valley of the Baliem to the western tip of the Central Highlands (see map).The area coincides with the "Western Sphere" of the Highlands as identified by Hyndman and Morren (1990).They define a sphere as "a potentially expansive, segmentary, reticulated mosaic of local groups that, notwithstanding observable ethnolinguistic diversity, share a common tradition and are strongly influenced by one or more core populations at the historic-geographic centre of their region" (Hyndman and Morren 1990:10).Hyndman and Morren (1990:13) distinguish three such spheres in the Central Highlands: Eastern, Central, and Western.The Eastern Sphere centers on "a chain of eight valleys from Arona-Aiyura to Tari-Koroba"; the Central on "the Sepik Source Basin and the Sibil valley"; and the Western centers "on the Baliem valley and the Paniai Lakes."A number of ethnic groups, well represented in ethnographic studies, reside in the Western Highlands of West Papua.Best known are the Grand Valley Dani, the Western Dani, and the Me.The Grand Valley is located in the lower reaches of the Baliem River where it flows southeast through a wide valley with a relatively flat floor before it leaves the Highlands via the Baliem Gorge (see map).The habitat of the Grand Valley Dani is formed by the floor, the slopes of the valley, and its tributary valleys.The habitat of the Western Dani centers on the valleys of the North Baliem, the Boko, north of the Grand Valley, the Toli, the Yamo, and the Ila rivers.They occupy the entire middle section of the Western Highlands north and west of the Grand Valley.In the recent past they pushed further west.As a result, the valleys of the Ila, the upper Kema, the Nogolo, and the Dora have an ethnically mixed population of Western Dani, Damal, Moni, and some smaller groups.The habitat of the Me runs from the middle reaches of the Kema to the westernmost tip of the Highlands.Most Me live around the Paniai, Tigi, and Tage lakes, and in the valley of the Edege River and its tributaries.The Grand Valley Dani, the Western Dani, and the Me are by far the largest Highlands groups, and are the focus of this article.