Integrated People, Practices and Knowledge in the Archaeology of Southwest Madagascar

Summary

Since 2011 the Morombe Archaeological Project has undertaken archaeological survey, excavation and oral history recording in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area of southwest Madagascar. The project’s aims are to investigate diachronic human-environment dynamics and refine our understanding of the region’s settlement history by leveraging multiple scientific techniques and the collective historical and socio-ecological knowledge base of Velondriake’s living communities. The project is run by a diverse team of ancestors, elders, men, women and youth from different communities in Velondriake, representing five ancestral clans. In this paper we describe the outcomes of the project’s approach to integrate diverse community members and collective knowledge in all aspects of the research and promote this approach as necessary in generating new and humanized narratives of human-environment interaction on the island of Madagascar.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22706