Radiocarbon dated archaeozoological and palaeoecological evidence of initial human colonization in Madagascar

Summary

Human impacts to Madagascar, through the introduction of non-native species, habitat modification and species extinctions, are thought to have begun in the prehistoric period. Understanding of these anthropogenic modifications to Madagascar’s ecosystems is, however, impossible without solid chronologies for human settlement and expansion across the island, which are currently lacking. Estimates of the period in which people first colonized Madagascar have varied considerably, and never more so than today. Archaeological remains of material culture generally suggest colonization began 1400-1100 bp, within a context of Austronesian migration. However, palaeoecological changes and apparent cultural damage on the bones of extinct megafauna have been radiocarbon dated as occurring 2000-4000 bp and one archaeological site extends to 4300 bp by OSL dating. We question aspects of this evidence and report that results from our archaeozoological and palaeoecological fieldwork in Southwest Madagascar, indicate substantially later human settlement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Biological Exchange in the Anthropocene: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

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