Austronesian Culture Influenced Human Civilization at the Gunung Srobu Site, Papua, Indonesia

Erlin Novita Idje Djami

The expansion and interaction of Austronesian culture in the Western Pacific region constituted one of the significant factors in the dynamics of the formation of human civilization in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, including Papua. The Gunung Srobu Site is one of the important sites in Papua that illustrates this phenomenon, which occurred from the 4th to the 7th century CE. This paper aims to reveal how Austronesian culture influenced the development of human civilization at the Gunung Srobu Site in Papua during the protohistoric period. The term “influenced” in this context is understood as a process of cultural impact, interaction, and the introduction of contributing cultural elements without eliminating pre-existing local traditions. The research was conducted using an archaeological approach with descriptive-analytical methods applied to artifactual and contextual data. Typological analysis and regional comparison demonstrate the presence of cultural characteristics that share similarities with Austronesian traditions, particularly in pottery technology, horticultural-maritime subsistence patterns, and coastal settlement orientation. The study shows that the Gunung Srobu Site represents a dynamic space of cultural interaction, where Austronesian elements were integrated with the local Papuan cultural substratum through processes of diffusion, adaptation, and acculturation. This integration produced a distinctive cultural configuration and enriched the local cultural landscape. Thus, human civilization at Gunung Srobu is understood as the result of a complex historical construction, positioning the coastal region of Jayapura as an important part of the prehistoric migration and cultural exchange networks in the Western Pacific region.