elevated have large gardens. Communities (Purari, Urama, Gope, Goaribari, Kerewa) in the west have small inland gardens and tend to focus their cultivation efforts on a variety of fruit and nut bearing trees. Since the early 1990s, communities of the Papuan Gulf have experienced intensive localized development by multinational companies in search of oil and revenue found in the region's tropical hard wood forest. With the development of the Kutubu oil project in the Southern Highlands, an oil pipeline now stretches from the oil wells to an offshore oil terminal in the Gulf of Papua. Since the mid-1990s, several logging camps have been established, several of which are operated by Malaysian company Rimbunan Hijau. Communities whose land and water resources are being impacted by these projects receive some monetary compensation through royalty payments. As a result, impacted communities now can purchase rice, tinned fish, kerosene, etc. The long-term social and environmental impacts of these resource extraction projects has yet to be assessed. Cultural history The diverse set of cultural groups that inhabit this region possess some loose cultural affinities. The majority speak Non-Austronesian languages and possess patrilineal descent systems. Communities are organized on the basis of tribal and clan boundaries. While these boundaries have remained intact over time, Gulf communities do now intermarry within the region and to outside ethnic groups. During the region's early colonial period (1880 - 1920), communities became renowned in Europe for their large-scale longhouses, and their fantastic art works. In the Purari Delta, the Purari constructed buildings with facades of 80 feet, which then tapered down along a central ridge pole of 120 feet. In contrast, the Goaribari, who occupy the mouth of the Omati and Kikori River, possessed longhouses that were uniform in height (20 feet) and reached lengths of 600 feet. While communities in the east (the Purari, Elema and Toaripi) no longer construct these buildings, it is still possible to find longhouses among Urama, Gope, Era River communities. These buildings were where many of the region's incredible ritual arts were made and stored. Rituals such as headhunting and cannibalism were common in the Gulf of Papua before foreign contact. These rituals included displays of magic powers, and the initiation of young men. An integral part of these rituals is tribal art. This art is mostly made of wood and is carved in relief and painted with local dyes of red ochre, lime,