Pestle Finial ca. 1500 B.C.- A.D. 1600 Highlands, Mt. Hagen region This stylized bird figure once adorned the end of a stone pestle. Almost certainly used in conjunction with the prehistoric stone mortars found in the same region, such pestles may have been ritual objects—possibly used to grind pigments used for body paint or in the preparation of ceremonial meals.The earliest known works of Oceanic sculpture are a series of ancient stone figures unearthed in various locations on the island of New Guinea, primarily in the mountainous highlands of the interior. To date, no examples have been excavated from a secure archaeological context. Although organic material trapped within a crack in one example has recently been dated to 1500 B.C., firm dating and chronology for the figures are otherwise lacking.The stone sculptures fall into three basic categories: mortars, pestles, and freestanding figures. The tops of many pestles are adorned with images of human heads, birds, or bird's heads