In 1991 Arne Skjolsvold (editor) published the results of
archaeological test-excavations carried out during Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions to the Republic of the Maldives in 1983 and
1984, each lasting for about three weeks. The expeditions were
organized as a joint project between the Kon-Tiki Museum and
the Maldivian government.
The publication contains descriptive and photographic material
of the archaeological findings, but the researchers also
adduce hypotheses based on their material which shed a new and
more detailed light on the historical socio-economic development of Maldivian society today.
The latest issue in the Tahola series (tahola means
"the past", this publication series started in 1965) of the
Institut de Civilisation and the Musée d'Art et d'Archeologie of the University of Antananarivo, deals with the
archaeology of the Highlands of Madagascar. The research has
been carried out mainly by Malagasy scholars at the University
of Antananarivo.
The articles concentrate on the historical configuration of
the Merina and Betsileo societies, two of the eighteen ethnic
groups in Madagascar who inhabit the Highlands. The Merina
come from the northern Highlands and, as early as 1500, had
created a small but strong kingdom around the present-day
capital Antananarivo. When Andrianampoinimerina (1787-1810)
came to power, the kingdom began to expand and other areas of
Madagascar fell prey to the ambitions of this king who conquered under the motto: ny ranomasina no valam-parihiko
("The ocean forms the perimeter of my rice paddy"). As the
results of the excavations show, traces of this period of
Merina conquest that lasted until the French colonial era
(1896-1960), are still to be found: including the archaeological evidence of the former royal palace and fortified villages. This underlines the theories constructed about the
elaborated political structure of Malagasy society before
Europeans ever set foot on the island in the eighteenth and
nineteenth century.
Archaeological Test-Excavations on the Maldives Islands. Oslo: The Kon-Tiki Museum Occasional Papers, 1991.
Taloha 12, Hautes Terres de Madagascar. Antananarivo: Institut de Civilisations/Musée d'Art et d'Archeologie, 1994.
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