Muyu

The Muyu are a Papuan people of the interior of South Papua in Indonesia, spread across the hills along the Muyu River between the Digul and Kao rivers, by the foothills of the Star Mountains. Their Muyu language, divided into northern and southern dialects, belongs to the Ok group of the Trans-New Guinea family.

Their settlement long predates the Austronesian seafarers who reached New Guinea's coasts around 1500 BCE, bringing pigs and pottery. The soil of their homeland is relatively infertile, so they combine sago production with hunting, fishing and the raising of pigs and dogs.

Traditionally they dwelt in treehouses and stilt houses clustered for defence against raiders, organised into patrilineal lineages under big men whose authority rested on shell valuables and dog teeth, which also served as currency, together with knowledge of mystical powers.