Skull Caves

The Skull Caves in PNG

These photos show the entrance and the skulls collected by a single village in PNG.  While in Milne Bay, we had the opportunity to see this cave from the cannibalistic times.  The story goes, that when World War II ended and the allies had control of PNG, it became out of fashion for the villagers to keep their skulls mounted on the outside of their huts as trophies, particularly since some of those trophies looked new and Japanese.  But not wanting to completely abandon their cultural ways, the villagers took all of their skulls and placed them in a near by cave.  Some historians say that cannibalism in this part of the world died out before or during the war, but you'll have to judge for yourself if those skulls all look over 60 years old.  Our guide to the skull caves was the only one smart enough to bring his flashlight.  Yes, our group of four divers who had hauled video lights and flashlights all the way from the states, failed to bring them on an excursion to a cave!  The guide's flashlight was probably manufactured around the same time that some of these skulls, became skulls.  All this to say, we went in to a dark cave that did not brighten up with the light from our solitary 1 candle watt light.  As the flash from my camera went off you could hear everyone gasp.  I don't think any of us expected there to be so many skulls.  You wouldn't have wanted to stop by this village unannounced in the 1930's!