Papua New Guinea

Kuk

WHS Score 1.46
rate
Votes 4 Average 1.88
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Votes for Kuk

0.5

  • Loic Pedras
  • Zoë Sheng

2.0

  • SHIHE HUANG

4.5

  • Leontine Helleman

Kuk Early Agricultural Site represents the earliest evidence of the independent transformation towards the domestication of plants in Oceania.

The site covers 116ha of swamp land systematically cultivated since 7,000 and possibly 10,000 years ago. Crops grown include taro, yams and bananas. Stone tools have been found, as well as ditches and drainage channels used to drain the wetland.

Community Perspective: located a short drive outside Mount Hagen, but to the casual visitor, similar to most of the agricultural areas surrounding that city; one wonders if it is really “seeable”. Michael provided some practical tips (“The value-to-cost ratio of my visit to Kuk was probably the lowest of any of the WHS that I have visited”), and more are in this Forum Post. We also have a ‘review’ by one of the archaeologists who worked on the site in 1977.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Kuk Early Agricultural Site (ID: 887)
Country
Papua New Guinea
Status
Inscribed 2008 Site history
History of Kuk
2008: Inscribed
Inscribed
1999: Deferred
Bureau - Needs new Management plan and better visitor handling facilities etc
Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • iii
  • iv
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
Related
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • 28 Feb 2019 looppng.com — K100,000 for Kuk World Heritage Site

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Human activity: Agriculture
  • Cultural Landscape: Relict
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
One thousand visitors or fewer
DD: "Current visitation is negligable" (Periodic Reporting 2012)
Recent Connections
View all (14) .
Connections of Kuk
Geography
Trivia
  • Customary ownership
    The Papua New Guinea authorities abandoned the Research Station about 15 years after independence in 1975, and the site was then reoccupied by its local customary owners, the Kawelka clan (AB ev)
Ecology
  • Peat
    "The remains of former agricultural practices are mostly buried and preserved underneath deposits that have accumulated in the wetland through ...... in situ peat accumulation" and "comparison of the records and finds from archaeological excavations in the 1970s (following drainage) and in the late 1990s (25 years after drainage for the Station), indicate that only the upper peat layer that accumulated in the last 100 years has been severely degraded" (Nom File)
  • Swamps and Marshes
    "The Kuk swamp is now part of an extensive area of intensively cultivated wetland in several densely populated valleys" (AB ev)
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
  • Irrigation and drainage
  • Tea
    The site has been used for growing tea. AB review In "the late 1960s ... the landscape was drained and converted into a tea plantation"
Timeline
Science and Technology
  • Innovations in Agriculture
    "It contains well-preserved archaeological remains demonstrating the technological leap which transformed plant exploitation to agriculture around 6,500 years ago. It is an excellent example of transformation of agricultural practices over time, from cultivation mounds to draining the wetlands through the digging of ditches with wooden tools. Kuk is one of the few places in the world where archaeological evidence suggests independent agricultural development and changes in agricultural practice over such a long period of time." (UNESCO)
Visiting conditions
News
looppng.com 28/02/2019
K100,000 for Kuk World Heritage Si…
Recent Visitors
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Reserved for members.

Community Reviews