4.5 Dating the First Settlement of Madagascar
77
in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, this means that the Cinnamon Route had a life of
2,000 years (interrupted by the 600-year cold period after 1000 BC).
As noted earlier, if Madagascar was colonized before 1000 BC (a first-wave settlement) the descendants of the first colonists or traders would have been isolated
for 600 years till warmer sea surface temperatures made it possible for mariners to
sail the Cinnamon Route again or for new colonists to arrive in Madagascar.
We have seen that the dates for the first settlement of Madagascar suggested by
prehistorians stretch over 2,400 years from 1500 BC to perhaps as late as AD 900.
In contrast, with the lack of consensus amongst prehistorians, there is some sharp
indirect dating evidence for the first settlement of Madagascar recently provided by
Burney et al. [19]:
Many lines of evidence converge on the notion that humans first settled in Madagascar about
two millennia ago: 1) first occurrence of human-modified bones of extinct animals, 2) first
occurrence of pollen of introduced Cannabis/Humulus (probably the former, see Merlin,
2003), 3) sudden large increases in microscopic charcoal particles above background values,
and 4) an increase in ruderal pollen and other vegetational disturbance indicators. These
key events have all been dated to within three centuries of 2000 14/C yr BP. Studies of
the Malagasy language also show a separation from its closest surviving linguistic relatives
in the highlands of Borneo about two millennia ago (Dahl, 1951). Divergence could have
begun before proto-Malagasy speakers departed from Indonesia, of course. If people had
arrived many centuries earlier, they would have predated the advent of the Iron Age. No
plausible evidence has been found for a stone-age culture on Madagascar (Dewar, 1984).
This is merely a negative-evidence argument, but the persistence of stone artifacts in the
archaeological record is much better than iron, yet no stone tools except sinkers and musketflints have been found.
The very earliest date for a human presence, 2325 ± 43 yr BP (2366–2315 cal yr
BP), comes from the SW interior site of Taolambiby. It is from a radius of the sloth
lemur Palaeopropithecus ingens with cut marks that suggest flesh removal with a sharp
object (Perez et al., 2003). This is approximately coeval with the earliest occurrence of
Cannabis/Humulus pollen at Tritrivakely in the central highlands, at an interpolated age of
2200 cal yr BP (Burney, 1987a; Gasse and Van Campo, 1998). A human-modified femur of
extinct Hippopotamus from Ambolisatra on the SW coast yielded an age of 1970 ± 90 yr
BP (60 BC–130 cal yr AD) (McPhee and Burney, 1991). Thus, a conservative estimate for
the earliest human presence on Madagascar is ca. 2300 cal yr BP (350 cal yr BC).
This indirect evidence, however, needs to be considered in the context of global
climate history. For, as we have seen, warm climate periods and associated high
SSTs determined both the periods in which it was feasible for mariners to sail the
Cinnamon Route and the periods in which it was feasible for migrants to sail to and
settle in Madagascar.
It would have been possible for cold-resistant mariners to have sailed the
Cinnamon Route in the significantly warm period from 3,600 to 3,000 years ago
(the Lapita period) and, as we have seen, the new demand for spices, especially for
mummification, in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt (1503–1482 BC) may
have provided motivation for establishing the route. The warm conditions in this
period would also have favoured mariners establishing a trading station or colony in
Madagascar.
77
in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, this means that the Cinnamon Route had a life of
2,000 years (interrupted by the 600-year cold period after 1000 BC).
As noted earlier, if Madagascar was colonized before 1000 BC (a first-wave settlement) the descendants of the first colonists or traders would have been isolated
for 600 years till warmer sea surface temperatures made it possible for mariners to
sail the Cinnamon Route again or for new colonists to arrive in Madagascar.
We have seen that the dates for the first settlement of Madagascar suggested by
prehistorians stretch over 2,400 years from 1500 BC to perhaps as late as AD 900.
In contrast, with the lack of consensus amongst prehistorians, there is some sharp
indirect dating evidence for the first settlement of Madagascar recently provided by
Burney et al. [19]:
Many lines of evidence converge on the notion that humans first settled in Madagascar about
two millennia ago: 1) first occurrence of human-modified bones of extinct animals, 2) first
occurrence of pollen of introduced Cannabis/Humulus (probably the former, see Merlin,
2003), 3) sudden large increases in microscopic charcoal particles above background values,
and 4) an increase in ruderal pollen and other vegetational disturbance indicators. These
key events have all been dated to within three centuries of 2000 14/C yr BP. Studies of
the Malagasy language also show a separation from its closest surviving linguistic relatives
in the highlands of Borneo about two millennia ago (Dahl, 1951). Divergence could have
begun before proto-Malagasy speakers departed from Indonesia, of course. If people had
arrived many centuries earlier, they would have predated the advent of the Iron Age. No
plausible evidence has been found for a stone-age culture on Madagascar (Dewar, 1984).
This is merely a negative-evidence argument, but the persistence of stone artifacts in the
archaeological record is much better than iron, yet no stone tools except sinkers and musketflints have been found.
The very earliest date for a human presence, 2325 ± 43 yr BP (2366–2315 cal yr
BP), comes from the SW interior site of Taolambiby. It is from a radius of the sloth
lemur Palaeopropithecus ingens with cut marks that suggest flesh removal with a sharp
object (Perez et al., 2003). This is approximately coeval with the earliest occurrence of
Cannabis/Humulus pollen at Tritrivakely in the central highlands, at an interpolated age of
2200 cal yr BP (Burney, 1987a; Gasse and Van Campo, 1998). A human-modified femur of
extinct Hippopotamus from Ambolisatra on the SW coast yielded an age of 1970 ± 90 yr
BP (60 BC–130 cal yr AD) (McPhee and Burney, 1991). Thus, a conservative estimate for
the earliest human presence on Madagascar is ca. 2300 cal yr BP (350 cal yr BC).
This indirect evidence, however, needs to be considered in the context of global
climate history. For, as we have seen, warm climate periods and associated high
SSTs determined both the periods in which it was feasible for mariners to sail the
Cinnamon Route and the periods in which it was feasible for migrants to sail to and
settle in Madagascar.
It would have been possible for cold-resistant mariners to have sailed the
Cinnamon Route in the significantly warm period from 3,600 to 3,000 years ago
(the Lapita period) and, as we have seen, the new demand for spices, especially for
mummification, in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt (1503–1482 BC) may
have provided motivation for establishing the route. The warm conditions in this
period would also have favoured mariners establishing a trading station or colony in
Madagascar.