

These largest compound clusters may house well over 100 people, but they do not form social units. The compound itself is a social unit, at least in terms of intensity of social interaction. A compound may stand by itself or it may be physically attached to several other compounds. They may contain just a single nuclear family or many families and assorted others. The houses are built of wood and thatched with grass. Behind the houses, and enclosed by an outer fence, are casual household gardens. The structures are linked together by fences and open onto a common courtyard. The largest compounds may have up to half a dozen more women's houses. The basic compound is one round men's house, a smaller round women's house, a rectangular common cook house, and a rectangular pig sty. Settlementsĭani compounds are scattered across the floor of the Grand Valley. This has been continued and intensified by the Indonesian government since 1962. By 1960, the Dutch government was carrying out its program of pacification and development in the Grand Valley. Some Dani groups were contacted briefly by expeditions prior to World War II, but the first permanent outside settlements were established by Western Christian missionaries in the 1950s. No archaeology has been done in the Dani area. But neither the new settlements nor the insurgents have had any direct effect on the Dani.
#DEAD ISLAND 2 DANI FREE#
Even as the Javanese component of the population is being increased through the resettlement program ( Transmigrasi ), a small Free Papua movement continues to demand independence from Indonesia. It is now the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. With the independence of the rest of Indonesia, the Dutch held on to Netherlands New Guinea until it was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 via a United Nations Temporary Executive Authority. The western half of the island of New Guinea, where the Dani live, was part of the Netherlands East Indies until 1949. The half-dozen languages and dialects of the Great Dani Family are related to other Non-Austronesian language families of the Irian Jaya Highlands Stock, which belongs to the Trans- New Guinea Phylum. The major concentration of non-Dani in the area is in Wamena, the Indonesian administrative center, a town of some 5,000 people at the southern end of the Grand Valley. The other Dani are scattered across the rough mountain terrain from about 900 meters to about 1,800 meters above sea level.

It is densely populated, one of several such broad valleys found across the central ranges of the island. The broad floor of the Grand Valley, at 1,500 meters, has about 50,000 people, or about half of the entire estimated Dani population. For all practical purposes, the Grand Valley Dani do not recognize any yearly seasonal cycles, nor do they shape their behavior around them.ĭemography.

Rainfall in the Grand Valley is about 208 centimeters per year, but wet and dry periods occur irregularly. In the Grand Valley, the mean range of temperature is from 26 ° C to 15 ° C. Because of the high altitude and the sheltering ranges, the Dani area is temperate and unaffected by monsoon cycles. This is generally a rugged, mountainous country, with a temperate climate. To the north and west of the Grand Valley, in the upper Balim and adjacent drainage areas, live the Western Dani. The greatest concentration of Dani is in the Grand Valley of the Balim. The various Dani groups live in and around the Balim River, approximately 4 ° S, 138 ° to 139 ° E. Dani is a general term used by outsiders for peoples speaking closely related Papuan (Non-Austronesian) languages in the central highlands of Irian Java, Indonesia (formerly Netherlands New Guinea, West New Guinea, Irian Barat). ETHNONYMS: Akhuni, Konda, Ndani, Pesegem Orientation
