The Pre-Islamic Archaeology of the Maldive Islands

Forbes, Andrew

doi:10.3406/befeo.1987.1726

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Elsewhere in the Atlantic, people first reached the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, 125 km from the African coast, 2,900 years ago (Atoche, 2008), but island groups farther from shore – like the Cape Verde and Azores island groups – are not believed to have had any human presence pre-dating the past millennium. Aside from the Maldives, which may have been occupied first almost 3,000 years ago (Forbes, 1987), no isolated islands in the Indian Ocean are known to have been colonized before the end of the fourteenth century when trading vessels likely encountered Mauritius and Réunion for the first time (Tibbetts, 1971).…”

Section: Climate Change and Human Livelihoods On Oceanic Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding climate-human interactions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Nunn

Kumar

2017

IJCCSM

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Purpose-Climate change poses diverse, often fundamental, challenges to livelihoods of island peoples. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that these challenges must be better understood before effective and sustainable adaptation is possible. Design/methodology/approach-Understanding past livelihood impacts from climate change can help design and operationalize future interventions. In addition, globalization has had uneven effects on island countries/jurisdictions, producing situations especially in archipelagoes where there are significant differences between core and peripheral communities. This approach overcomes the problems that have characterized many recent interventions for climate-change adaptation in island contexts which have resulted in uneven and at best only marginal livelihood improvements in preparedness for future climate change. Findings-Island contexts have a range of unique vulnerability and resilience characteristics that help explain recent and proposed responses to climate change. These include the sensitivity of coastal fringes to climate-environmental changes: and in island societies, the comparatively high degrees of social coherence, closeness to nature and spirituality that are uncommon in western contexts. Research limitations/implications-Enhanced understanding of island environmental and social contexts, as well as insights from past climate impacts and peripherality, all contribute to more effective and sustainable future interventions for adaptation. Originality/value-The need for more effective and sustainable adaptation in island contexts is becoming ever more exigent as the pace of twenty-first-century climate change increases.

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Section: Climate Change and Human Livelihoods On Oceanic Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding climate-human interactions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Nunn

Kumar

2017

IJCCSM

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“…Further from the South Asian mainland, Buddhist monks arriving in the Maldives in the first few centuries AD (and well attested archaeologically: Forbes, 1987) reported an already present population (Maloney, 1980, pp. 49-75), but the antiquity and derivation of the latter is uncertain.…”

Section: The Indian Oceanmentioning

confidence: 89%

Global Patterns in Island Colonization during the Holocene

et al. 2022

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Analysis of the spatial and temporal structure of global island colonization allows us to frame the extent of insular human cultural diversity, model the impact of common environmental factors cross-culturally, and understand the contribution of island maritime societies to big historical processes. No such analysis has, however, been undertaken since the 1980s. In this paper we review and update global patterns in island colonization, synthesizing data from all the major island groups and theaters and undertaking quantitative and qualitative analysis of these data. We demonstrate the continued relevance of certain biogeographic and environmental factors in structuring how humans colonized islands during the Holocene. Our analysis also suggests the importance of other factors, some previously anticipated—such as culturally ingrained seafaring traditions and technological enhancement of dispersal capacity—but some not, such as the relationship between demographic growth and connectivity, differing trophic limitations impinging on colonizing farmers versus hunter-gatherer-foragers, and the constraining effects of latitude. We also connect colonization with continental dynamics: both the horizontal transmission of farming lifestyles earlier in the Holocene, and subsequent centrifugal processes associated with early state formation later in the Holocene.

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“…Large, mature coral heads, especially Porites lutea , were favored for new construction, as had been the case since the Buddhist period (Forbes, 1987; Naseer, 1997). Used either as building blocks themselves or broken into brick-sized pieces (Figure 5), coral was cemented together with mortar made from coconut sap, lime, and sand.…”

Section: Growing Male’: Population Economy and Land Areamentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Coral clearance and construction allowed pre-modern Maldivians to pursue a “hard” path towards coastal resilience, modifying the environment (clearing the north reef flat) and building rigid structures to fortify commercial, religious, and governmental structures from disaster. By Pyrard’s time the Maldives had a long-standing and sophisticated tradition of coral rock masonry: even in pre-Islamic times large Buddhist structures (stupas and monastic structures) were made from rubble and polished coral heads (typically of Porites lutea ; Forbes, 1987; Woodroffe, 1992). While coral is found as a building material in the Pacific island nations, it is only found in limited applications as part of the foundations or support for mostly wooden or thatched structures and never extended to coastal protection (Saini and Moore, 2007), which was mostly achieved by settling on the lagoonward shores of the longer Pacific atoll rim islands (cf.…”

Section: Pre-twentieth Century Responses To Coastal Vulnerability In Male’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Island morphology, reef resources, and development paths in the Maldives

Naylor¹

2015

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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Maldivian paths for economic development have historically been constrained by the morphology of atoll islands and the availability of material resources. These constraints are most evident when examining the development of Male’, the Maldives’ capital and most populous island. Before the 1970s, Male’ was a rather typical atoll island, consisting of accumulated rubble and sand with an underlying lagoonal reef (faro) structure. Rising population and standard-of-living expectations in Male’ led to accelerated coral mining of Male’s reefs in the 1970s and 80s for both landfill and construction material, extending the island’s land surface across Male’s lagoon and reef flats, close to the edge of its underlying faro. This combination of mining and fill degraded the island’s natural defenses against wave events, resulting in disastrous floods in April 1987 and the fortification of the coastline with seawalls shortly thereafter. The degree of degradation to natural defenses and amount of investment in urban building stock have jointly locked Male’ into a “hard path” for coastal resilience engineering, and both the damage patterns and response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami demonstrate that the Male’ model of development and degradation has spread to smaller Maldivian islands. While hard measures have proven successful in preventing further damage, their expense has led to greater interest in “soft path,” ecosystem-based resilience measures. The degree of local ecosystem damage, combined with high vulnerability to climate change and Male’s continued growth, means that such measures can only be seen as supplements to heavier fortification in the future, including raised (Th. Vilufushi) or artificial islands (Hulhumale’). The intersecting role hydrological stress on Maldivian groundwater has played in Male’s development path is also discussed.

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The Pre-Islamic Archaeology of the Maldive Islands

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

Understanding climate-human interactions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Understanding climate-human interactions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Global Patterns in Island Colonization during the Holocene

Island morphology, reef resources, and development paths in the Maldives

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