Indigenous Anthropology & Cultural Survival
The Karawari Cave Arts Project, in East Sepik, Papua New Guinea (PNG), is working to explore and conserve one of the largest cave art complexes in the world
Our mission is to protect the cave arts and cultural values represented by stencils and paintings dating back to 20,000 years ago, which are of great archeological and cultural importance to the people of Papua New Guinea. We support the indigenous landowners of this large cave area complex in their desire to remain guardians of their cultural heritage. Our aim is to establish a conservation area (UNESCO World Heritage listing) to prevent the intrusion of commercial mining and logging in the area.
The Caves
This cave art complex is unique for being owned and inhabited by some of the last semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer groups in the world
Our work supports continued research and biocultural documentation of the caves and surrounding rainforest of the Upper Karawari East Sepik Province, PNG, in collaboration with the indigenous landowners.
The Guardians
The cave owners and surrounding communities are under imminent threat by commercial logging and mining interests who would displace these remote people and destroy their sacred caves.
The project aims to provide the cave owners and their language groups with the data and skills necessary to defend their land against logging and mining operators. Our KCAF team members transfer skills by directly training villagers in the landowning communities to record their own stories. The goal is to build teams of Papua New Guineans recording their own history, their own culture.
“We fully believe that one of the cave owners of today will become the conservationist/ anthropologist of the project’s tomorrow.”
— Dr Nancy Sullivan, KCAF Founder