Forging Ahead By Land and By Sea: Archaeology and Paleoclimate Reconstruction in Madagascar

Abstract

Madagascar is an exceptional example of island biogeography. Though a large island, Madagascar's landmass is small relative to other places in the world with comparable levels of biodiversity, endemicity, and topographic and climatic variation. Moreover, the timing of Madagascar's human colonization and the social-ecological trajectories that followed human arrival make the island a unique case study for understanding the dynamic relationship between humans, environment, and climate. These changes are most famously illustrated by the mass extinction of the island's megafauna but also include a range of other developments. Given the chronological confluence of human arrival and dramatic transformations of island ecologies, one of the most important overarching questions for research on Madagascar is how best to understand the interconnections between human communities, the environment, and climate. In this review paper, we contribute to the well-established discussion of this complex question by highlighting the potential for new multidisciplinary research collaborations in the southwest part of the island. Specifically, we promote the comparison of paleoclimate indicators from securely dated archaeological and paleontological contexts with Western Indian Ocean climate records, as a productive way to improve the overall resolution of paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction for the island. Given new archaeological findings that more than double the length of Madagascar's human occupation, models of environmental transformation post-human arrival must be reassessed and allow for the possibility of slower and more varied rates of change. Improving the spatial and temporal resolution of paleoclimate reconstruction is critical in distinguishing anthropogenic and climate drivers of environmental change. It will also increase our capacity to leverage archaeological and paleoclimate research toward resolving modern challenges, such as environmental conservation and poverty alleviation.

Nitrogen isotope (δ15N) patterns for amino acids in lemur bones are inconsistent with aridity driving megafaunal extinction in south‐western Madagascar

“…Some scenarios attribute species loss to human activities such as hunting, landscape burning and the introduction of invasive species to the island (Dewar, ; Virah‐Sawmy et al ., ), but climate change in the form of aridification may have also played a significant role in this process (Mahé and Sourdat, ; Burney et al ., ; Virah‐Sawmy et al ., ). South‐western Madagascar is an ideal region to study late Holocene ecological change, because this region has a high diversity of endemic species and some of the earliest evidence for humans on the island (Perez et al ., ; Burney et al ., ; Douglass and Zinke, ). Early human colonists, who were present in south‐western Madagascar by at least 2300 calendar years before present (cal a BP, MacPhee and Burney, ; Perez et al ., ), encountered a diverse endemic megafauna that included pygmy hippos, elephant birds, and a wide array of giant lemur species (Burney et al ., ; Crowley, ).…”

Genetic diversity and differentiation among insular honey bee populations in the southwest Indian Ocean likely reflect old geographical isolation and modern introductions

“…unicolor has been described as endemic to Madagascar [ 13 ]. Intra-species divergence and human colonization dating (first evidence of human settlement was dated ~4380–4940 years ago [ 32 ]) suggest that A . m .…”

Historical perspectives on contemporary human–environment dynamics in southeast Africa

“…Moreover, given the confluence of human arrivals on islands and biotic extinctions in the Pacific, the archaeology of southeast African islands has also emphasized extinction in understanding anthropogenic impacts. This is exemplified on Madagascar, the largest and most biogeographically diverse island in the region, where the persistent view is that human arrival precipitated catastrophic changes in the island's environment, including the extinction of megafauna (Douglass & Zinke ; Salmona et al. ).…”