This "Port of the sons of Ismail", that is to say Arabs, is, without any possible doubt, a foundation of Islamized immigrants. Tibbetts places it in Diego Suarez (Antsirana), while Khoury sees it, for no apparent reason in Vohemar. The map of the bay of Diego-Suarez by Leguevel de Lacombe (1823) indicates a "Moncale - Antalotches or Port of the Arabs” in the current village of Ramena, on the promontory south of the entrance to the bay; but no prospecting has been carried out there. On the other hand, soundings carried out some fifty kilometers further south, at the mouth of the Irodo, in the sites of Antanimenabe, Tafiantsirebika and Tafiampatsa (see Vérin, op. cit., II, 725-42 ) unearthed fragments of ceramics, including two or three of Islamic ones from the 9th-11th centuries, but we cannot conclude that this was the Bandar Bani Ismail and we will stick to the location put forward by Tibbetts and, more specifically, at the location of Ramena. Like the previous one, the heading for Reunion given here is too far west (rhumb east of Canope = SSE = 157° 30).

Taken from: Le port de Diego Suarez ...quand il n'y avait pas de port Écrit par Suzanne Reutt

What we call the ‘baie des français’ has been an occasional stopover for navigators. Indeed, archaeologists have found, in what remains of the small islet at the mouth of the Betahitra river (along the road to Ramena), shards of glass and sgraffito (ceramics produced in the Persian Gulf). They also discovered, in a cave of the gorge of Andavakoera (in the Montagne des Français) similar remains as well as fragments of Chinese pottery. It would therefore seem that the site of the islet of Betahitra was the landing point for sailors sheltering in the cave of Andavakoera during a visit to refuel or discover trade products such as tortoiseshell.

Taken from: Madagascar: The Development of Trading Ports and the Interior; Beaujard, Philippe

The Gorge of Andavakoera has yielded nearly forty smaller sites dated to between the tenth and thirteenth centuries; they were visited by sailors who left behind ceramics of the sgraffiato type, glass from the Persian Gulf, and Chinese pottery dated to the same period. These assemblages are known in various settlements of northern Madagascar. Glass beads are relatively abundant. Remnants of imported goods appear to be more numerous than those of local goods. These sites were temporary shelters used by men who came to use forest resources (Dewar and Wright 1993: 435; Dewar 1996: 479ff.).

They contain the remains of giant tortoises and large lemurs. An islet on the Betahitra River may have been one of the landing spots for these sailors. The islet has yielded sgraffiato and fragments of glass from the Persian Gulf, as well as fragments of chlorite-schist vessels and local pottery (Dewar and Rakotovololona 1992: 8ff.). The islet now totally destroyed by digging of sand was 3km northwest of the Gorge d’Andavakoera.

Taken from: Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models by Robert E. Dewar, Chantal Radimilahy, Henry T. Wright, and Francesco Berna (2013).

Lakaton’i Anja near Antsiranana. The latest assemblage is dated to A.D. 1050–1350 with pottery imported from the Near East and China. The sporadic occupied cave is situated in the Montagne des Français in the Gorge of Andavakoera.

The higher layers contain local earthenware and imported ceramics. The lower unit was dated earlier than any other archaeological site known for Madagascar.

There are four sherds of Persian Gulf sgraffiato of the 11th to 13th centuries and a green glazed sherd of either later 13th to 14th century sgraffiato or a monochrome of the 14th to 15th centuries. From southern China is the white glazed, white-bodied porcelain fragment of the ring base of a small Song dynasty bowl of the 11th to 13th centuries.

Stone vessels sherds of carved chlorite schist were also. Also small cane beads of opaque red glass, opaque dark glass, and translucent blue-green glass.

Taken from: Beads from Lakaton’i Anja 2011 Excavation Season; Gwen Kelly

The red Indo-Pacific beads should belong to older levels from 1000–1250 C.E., and the blue/green (probable) Zimbabwe series (= many found in Great Zimbabwe but from S Asia) bead should belong to somewhat later levels, 1300–1430 C.E.