Enijo

 

Recent archaeological research in extreme southern Madagascar at Enijo on the west bank of the Menarandra River by Michael Parker Pearson and colleagues has found a distinct type of pottery. The pottery is not that of any Malagasy tradition and is closely comparable to Triangular Incised Ware (TIW) dated from 1,100 to 1,400 years BP along the Swahili coast of Tanzania and Kenya. Although it is of an east African style, the pottery’s constituent portions are consistent with local manufacture within the limestone and coastal dunes of this portion of Madagascar. This provides good evidence that human movements from east Africa to Madagascar occurred notably earlier than previous thought and that the south was colonized by groups from the Swahili coast. (Michael Parker Pearson 2010.)

 

In contrast to the coarse, plain ceramics of the north and east coasts, three small sites in the far south at Enijo, have yielded well-made sand-tempered jars with chevron-incised triangular motifs (Parker Pearson 2010) similar to pottery from the east coast of Africa dated from 750 to 950 CE. Unfortunately, the best-preserved of these sites is covered by a cemetery and cannot be excavated. Exactly when and why these mariners would have crossed the Mozambique Channel to camp on this arid corner of Madagascar is unknown but must have been pre-Islamic.

 

Note: this place nor its hinterland has up to now yielded any trace of medieval imports. See also my note on Analapasy added to the explanation of Bandar Abyah as I added more general information on the pre-Islamic Swahili in Madagascar.

 

Talaky

 

Taken from: The Culture History of Madagascar R.E. Dewar, H.T. Wright.

 

Vérin (1986) reports the presence of soapstone objects at Talaky in southern Madagascar and dates them to the 10th to 11th century. Talaky, near the mouth of the Manambovo River, was a fishing settlement dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century (Dewar and Wright 1993: 439). This site has yielded pottery with graphited decoration and parallel incisions, as well as other ceramic ware known at inland sites such as Andranosoa. Some pottery from Talaky is comparable to pottery found in caves of the Fort-Dauphin region, indicating connections between Androy and Anosy. The region of Talaky (but not Talaky itself) has yielded sgraffiato ware from the Persian Gulf (discoveries by M. P. Pearson, p.c. by C. Radimilahy).

 

Talaky is located on a sandstone bench overlooking the littoral, and excavations yielded coarse paste ceramics, iron fishhooks and harpoons, and abundant marine shell and fish bone. No imported ceramics were found. The single radiocarbon date for the site (840 + 80—Gif-276) calibrates to A.D. 1250 (A.D. 1040-1380). Talaky is thus contemporaneous with the upstream Andranosoa phase sites and there are general similarities in the local ceramics. While Talaky has been proposed as a trading location (Domenichini-Ramiaramanana, 1988), the excavated materials, and especially the absence of tradeware, suggest that it was a simple fishing camp, and its relationship to the upstream villages is uncertain.

 

Note: The hinterland of Talaky area; upstream in the river-valley of the Manambovu river several sites have been found where imported ceramics were found.

 

Andranosoa

 

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

 

Andranosoa, at the junction of the Manambovo and Andranosoa rivers, dates back to the eleventh century and was occupied until the seventeenth century (Heurtebize and Vérin 1974; Emphoux 1978). A stone wall (called a manda) enclosed an area measuring 50 hectares. Andranosoa has yielded cattle bones, and more significantly sheep and goat bones, revealing a pastoral economy (Rasamuel 1984b). The remains of domestic cats have also been discovered. Alongside a coarse type of pottery, there was also a finer, red-slipped ceramic with graphite decoration, as well as Islamic ware (sgraffiato with a pink paste, known at Mahilaka, Bemanevika, and in the Comoros, and East Africa) and Chinese ware (white Song porcelain, and stoneware). A fragment of blue glass is similar in appearance to glass “produced in Egypt since the seventh–eighth century” (Radimilahy 1988: 162 n. 54, quoting Wright p.c.). One cowry has been discovered, and other seashells. A few iron items reveal ironworking (Radimilahy 1988: 60). Fragments of the shell of a giant extinct tortoise and Hippopotamus lemerlei teeth have also been recovered. The finds indicate a certain degree of social differentiation. As previously noted, red-slipped pottery with black and white decoration using graphite has been excavated at sites on Nosy Be (see above). Human occupation at Andranosoa was more limited during the fourteenth century; the population appears to have been declining at this time.

 

Andaro

 

Taken from: World Islands in Prehistory: International Insular Investigations: V Deia International William H. Waldren, Josep A. Ensenyat    2002

 

Sites are Andranosoa and Andaro. Like their counterparts on the other river systems, they have produced sgraffiato and occasional Chinese ceramics. Yet such numbers of imports are small, less than 1% of the total surface assemblage, and thus less than the proportions found on the large urban sites of the Swahili coast and northern Madagascar. Andaro is a 27ha site comprising two stone enclosures which site aside a tributary of the Manambovo upstream of Andranosoa. Its local ceramics are of a style which can be dated to the 9th- 10th centuries and it may be earlier than Andranosoa which is dated by radiocarbon to the 11th-13th centuries. At the second level is Maienkandro (9 ha), has produced imported ceramics but in smaller quantities than the large sites. At the next Ievel are the small manda (0.5-3 ha) which lack imports but whose quantities of local fine wares - haematite-burnished pottery - hint at activities beyond those of ordinary village life. At the bottom of the settlement hierarchy are small open sites, normally less than 0.5 ha in size, on which local fine wares are either rare or lacking. These sites are located close to streambeds and river banks throughout the Manambovo's dendritic system. They appear to have been small villages or hamlets. It seems likely that imports arrived up the river valleys, no doubt brought on foot since there was insufficient water for boats, since imported ceramics have been found at sites in two rivermouths - the Linta and the Manambovo. Exactly what was exchanged in return is not known cattle, leather, semi - precious stones, or slaves are all possibilities.

 

Note:on the Manambovo rivermouth is Talaky. On the Linta rivermouth is Androka.

 

Maienkandro

 

A site which sits at the junction of the Manambovo and its largest tributary and Is a relatively large (9ha), unwalled site at Maienkandro and has a few sgraffiato sherds, suggesting a further degree of complexity within the hierarchy. (Parker Pearson et al. 2010: 126).

 

Tondalava

 

Taken from: Contribution à létude de l'ancienne métallurgie du fer à Madagascar. Marie de Chantal Radimilahy 1985.

 

Tondalava is located southeast of the village of Betenere, itself 5 km southwest of the town of Antanimora Sud. It is an old village located higher up (an - tampon - kavoana) and located in the fields from where the toponym of Tondalava (elongated fields).

Attempt to date Tondalava: The decoration in incised lines found on potsherds from sites such as Ivahona would allow Tondalava to be dated to the 19th century. However, the celadon fragment found in situ suggests an occupation dating back to earlier times, at least for the third area, that is that of the metallurgy site. It's hard to imagine how this fragment of celadon got there by accident. Celadon can be found in Andaro, 40 km as the crow flies to the north, in a 15th century site. There is therefore a discrepancy in Tondalava but the presence of Chinese celadon is not extraordinary in Androy region any more than the sgraffiato found in Andranosoa.