Maring (people)

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The Maring are a tribe in Papua New Guinea who lived in conditions similar to Stone Age until the 1940s . They made their tools and weapons out of stone. The Maring live on the wooded ridge of the Bismarck Mountains in central New Guinea in an area of ​​around 500 square kilometers along the watershed ( Madang Province ).

Research history

First contacts with the Maring date back to 1954. In 1958 mission societies began their active work in the region. Nevertheless, the area was considered to be uncontrolled until 1962, when Roy Rappaport took up his research assignment in 1963 . At the same time, the Anglican Mission set up stations that were gradually filled with locals. In 1962/1963 and 1966, Andrew Vayda worked as an anthropologist among the Maring. The people at that time comprised about 7,000 people. The Maring traditionally live from slash and burn farming . By means of slash and burn, they transform parts of the jungle into gardens, in which they mainly grow tubers , and they also keep pigs . To a small extent they are active as hunters and gatherers.

The people are divided into clan associations of around 200 to 850 members, each of which can be traced back to a progenitor . Each association lives in a specific cultivation area on one of the mountain streams that arise from the watershed. Since women are married outside of the clan, the clans are related by marriage.

The border areas between the clan associations are sparsely populated. Overall, the population density of 14 people per square kilometer is quite high compared to other jungle inhabitants such as the Yanomami . Below the mountain zone, however, the jungle is almost uninhabitable and the population density only increases again towards the coast.

Only a few people like the tree people live in tiny groups scattered along the rivers below the mountain zone. In addition to poisoning from spider and snake bites, diseases such as tropical malaria , tuberculosis , fatal anemia or elephantiasis often lead to the death of the residents and to temporary and localized population collapse.

War with the Maring

Traditionally, the Maring have simple wooden bows, arrows with stone points, spears, polished stone axes and large wooden shields as weapons. The disputes that various clans conduct against each other are divided into four different phases: non-combat, real combat, attack and hunt .

Non-fight

Cause of non-fighting are after analysis of Vayda Misdemeanors and during periods of peace. These range from insults, kidnapping and rape to murder. Another reason for war is suspicion of evil magic, which is attributed to disease.

When not fighting, the two groups faced each other at an agreed venue on the border of the two areas. The warriors went to this place every morning and stood facing each other within arrow shot range. Their man-high and 75 cm wide shields were placed on the floor. Men darted out from behind the shields, fired arrows, and disappeared again behind the shields. Some left cover to provoke the other side and demonstrated their bravery by dodging the opponent's arrows. At the end of the day they all returned to their homes to start again the following day. Although these skirmishes lasted for weeks or even months, serious injuries or deaths were rare.

The non-fights were also accompanied by mediators who called for peace, often called allies. The non-fights served on the one hand to make demands and negotiate the acts that disrupt the peace, and on the other hand to measure the mutual fighting potential for the later decision as to whether the right fight should be started.

Real fight

When right people fight one of the men advanced with javelins and stone axes for close combat against each other. The men fought each other while the archers continued to shoot arrows. Occasionally the melee exchanged for a breath with the archers. The number of victims was still low, although the fighting dragged on for days. But there were losses.

All men capable of weapons took part in the fighting, while the women continued to do gardening and domestic chores. When it rained, both sides stayed home. Breaks were also agreed to hold funeral ceremonies, repaint the shields, do necessary work, or rest.

These ritualized battles remind the war historian John Keegan of the conflicts between the war heroes in the Trojan War , as described by Homer in his Iliad .

Raid

During the raid , which Vayda believes to be an alternative to real combat, one side breaks into the territory of the other group to bring death and destruction there. This form of fighting is still limited.

Chase

In the hunt , the attackers drive the opponents out of their homes and destroy their houses and gardens. In many cases, however, the winners do not occupy the area or only part of it.

ritual

A special feature is the kaiko ritual, which lasts about a year and during which a large number of pigs are sacrificed. The ritual is performed every 8 to 15 years. The meat is either sacrificed to the ancestors or distributed to the war allies. As a result of the ritual, warlike activities break out against hostile local groups. After the armistice, the pig population grows again, the increasing workload with the high pig population leads to disputes until the decision is made to hold a new Kaiko. At the end of the kaiko , the armistice is terminated by uprooting the rumbim tree , and the cycle begins again.

Some ethnologists interpret the ritual as a prime example of ecological functionalism . Afterwards, the ritual serves to prevent overuse of the soil by reducing the pig population and also to limit the population.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the Maring see p. 299 f. Susanne Schröter : Witches, warriors, cannibals, fantasy, domination and gender in New Guinea (women's cultures - men's cultures; 3.) . In: Women's cultures - Men's cultures - Volumes 1-3) . tape 3 , no. 1 . LIT Verlag, Münster, Hamburg, Germany 1994, ISBN 3-8258-2092-0 , p. 372 (German; IT book version (accessed on March 5, 2016)).
  2. ↑ The Maring. In: John Keegan : The Culture of War. Rowohlt, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-87134-226-2 , pp. 156-163.
  3. ↑ EXCURSION I: The Limitations of War. In: John Keegan: The Culture of War. Rowohlt, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-87134-226-2 , p. 116.

literature

  • Susanne Schröter : Witches, warriors, cannibals , fantasy, domination and gender in New Guinea; Muenster; Hamburg: Lit. 1994 (women's cultures - men's cultures; 3.); ISBN 3-8258-2092-0 .