ron Smelting, Stone Carving, and Pottery Production by the Early Settlers in Northeastern Madagascar: Transfer of Techniques and Local Adaptation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The project “Stone and Iron by the Rasikajy” started in 2017, focusing on the material remains of iron smelting, soapstone carving, and pottery production in northeastern Madagascar between 700 and 1700 CE. It is a joint project involving scholars from several universities in Switzerland and Madagascar. Four campaigns were conducted on the field, followed by archaeometric approaches. In this paper, we present several of our findings from this research. First, iron production was widespread but never reached a large scale. Smelting remained an ancillary activity based on a very simple technique. Second, in the hinterland of Vohémar, there are evidences for intensive quarrying of softstone (chloriteschist) for the production of vessels. The production line is very well established and based on advanced technology, including the use of a lathe for turning the vases. Third, pottery was made on-site at each settlement using local clays baked in open bonfire. Only at Vohémar, probably the largest and richest settlement, the pottery production has a higher level of specialization. The three different productive activities show different patterns mixing both technology transfer and local adaptation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36829.0