(Verin 1975).

Besides surveys and fieldwork, other techniques were developed to record all fortified sites and to develop a comprehensive typology and historical interpretation of their growth. Adrien Mille (1970) has subsequently worked intensively with aerial photos of a limited area in the highlands around Antananarivo and has counted more than 16,000 fortified (ditched or walled) sites. The results were reported in his thesis (Mille 1971), which is a fundamental document for all who want to engage in archaeology in the highlands. This pioneer research was later continued by Raharijaona Victor (1988) in the southern part of the highlands.

During the 1970s, U.S. archaeologist Henry Wright created a ceramic chronology of the sites from finds, especially ceramics recovered from survey and excavation. The availability of transport to Antananarivo and interest in Merina state formation (seventeenth to eighteenth centuries a.d.) concentrated archaeological attention on the central highlands. This interest spread in the early 1980s to intensive surveys, using the same methods already developed in the highlands, of other regions, and these surveys provided much additional information about little-known regions. Thus, in the very southern part of the island (the Androy region), Jean-Pierre Emphoux and Chantal Radimilahy (from 1978 to 1981) then Georges Heurtebize (1986) undertook surveys and excavations of sites that enabled a correction of the old assertions about dates for the first occupation of the southern arid zone. The work helped to increase knowledge about the material culture, settlement, subsistence, and social organization from the beginning of the second millennium. At the same time, Malagasy archaeologists compiled information from oral traditions about recent periods and contributed to the archaeological map by showing the types of sites by period for each region surveyed, and in 1973 Jean-Aime Rakotoarisoa studied and mapped the nineteenth-century Merina state fortresses throughout the island.

During the 1980s, new areas of inquiry developed such as the development of iron metallurgy, the study of specific sites—especially royal ones in the highlands—and human impact on the environment. Excavations of large areas took place, test trenches being considered insufficient to offer an image of past life. Royal sites were explored in detail to illustrate this approach. Thus, David Rasamuel (1984) and Rafolo Andrianaivoarivony respectively studying the sites of Ifanongoavana and Lohavohitra, both from the fifteenth or sixteenth century (and until the eighteenth century for Lohavohitra), reported their results.

Most of the archaeological work since the 1960s had been intended to clarify national and regional identities in the way each archaeologist thought to be the best, and it has provided as many answers as it has questions. The answer to establishing how and when the island was inhabited remains open to interpretation with similar remains found in sites that are far from each other. How can they be related? One way is through written sources, which are available only after the seventeenth century. The testimony of travelers during their reconnaissance of the island during the colonial period of the nineteenth century provides a lot of information, and the continuum of the Malagasy culture has helped to clarify some questions. However, the gaps in the archaeological map still need to be filled in.

Chantal Radimilahy

References

Battistini, R., P. Verin, and R. Rason. 1963. “Le site archéologique de Talaky, cadre géographique et géologique, premiers travaux de fouille, notes éthnographiques sur le village actuel proche du site.” In Annales de l’Universite de Madagascar 1:113–128.

Dewar, R. 1986. “Ecologie et extinction des subfossiles de Madagascar, traduit par Pierre Verin.” Taloha 10. Civilisation de Madagascar, Revue du Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie, Université de Madagascar.

Gaudebout, P., and E. Vernier. 1941. “Notes sur une campagne de fouilles a Vohemar, Mission Rasikajy 1941.” Bulletin de l’Academie Malgache, n.s., 24: 110–114.

Grandidier, G. 1899. “Fouilles dans les ruines arabes de Mahanara (côte nord-est).” In Journal Officiel (Tananarive), 29–31.