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East Africa and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean World

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East Africa and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean World J World Prehist DOI 10.1007/s10963-013-9067-4 East Africa and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean world Nicole Boivin • Alison Crowther • Richard Helm • Dorian Q. Fuller Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract The Indian Ocean has long been a forum for contact, trade and the transfer of goods, technologies and ideas between geographically distant groups of people. Another, less studied, outcome of expanding maritime connectivity in the region is the translocation of a range of species of plants and animals, both domestic and wild. A significant number of these translocations can now be seen to involve Africa, either providing or receiving species, suggesting that Africa’s role in the emergence of an increasingly connected Indian Ocean world deserves more systematic consideration. While the earliest international contacts with the East African coast remain poorly understood, in part due to a paucity of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological studies, some evidence for early African coastal activity is provided by the discovery of early hunter-gatherer sites on offshore islands, and, possibly, by the translocation of wild animals among these islands, and between them and the mainland. From the seventh century, however, clear evidence for participation in the Indian Ocean world emerges, in the form of a range of introduced species, including commensal and domestic animals, and agricultural crops. New genetic studies demonstrate that the flow of species to the coast is complex, with more than one source frequently indicated. The East African coast and Madagascar appear to have been significant centres of genetic admixture, drawing upon Southeast Asian, South Asian and Middle Eastern genetic varieties, and sometimes yielding unique hybrid species. The biological patterns reflect a deeply networked trade and contact situation, and support East Africa’s key role in the events and transformations of the early Indian Ocean world. N. Boivin (&) Á A. Crowther School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK e-mail: [email protected] R. Helm Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, UK D. Q. Fuller Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK 123 J World Prehist Keywords Maritime Á Trade Á Seafaring Á Genetics Á Biological translocations Á Archaeobotany Á Archaeozoology Introduction The Indian Ocean world is one that has long fascinated historians, geographers and archaeologists (Chaudhuri 1985; Pearson 2003; Reade 1996). Encompassing an area of enormous size, as well as significant ecological and cultural diversity, the region has nonetheless seen remarkable levels of interaction, trade, migration and species transloca- tion over a very long period of time. However, while more recent, historical activities linking up the Indian Ocean world have received a great deal of attention, the pre- and proto-historical origins of these networks have seen far less systematic study. Furthermore, while the role of much of the Indian Ocean littoral remains unclear for these early phases, that of East Africa is perhaps most enigmatic of all. And yet a significant majority of the early long-distance translocations of plants and animals that provide important clues to the ancient origins of the Indian Ocean world involve Africa (see Table 1). It is now clear that by the second millennium BC, Africa had given a number of important plant crops, including sorghum and pearl millet, to the Indian subcontinent (see Boivin and Fuller 2009; Boivin et al. 2009; Fuller and Boivin 2009; Fuller et al. 2011). Africa has also received an extraordinary number of species from diverse regions of the Indian Ocean, ranging from domesticated crops and animals, to weeds, spices and commensal animals. These include banana, yam, taro, chicken, zebu cattle, black rat, house mouse, and the Asian house shrew, to name just a few. It has been suggested that many of these were translocated westwards at an early date. East Africa thus offers something of a fascinating paradox. While it is key to under- standing the majority of ancient Indian Ocean biological transfers, it has seen less zoo- archaeological, archaeobotanical and genetic research than many other regions around the Indian Ocean rim. Furthermore, while historical documents like the classical period Periplus Maris Erythraei hint at its early role (Casson 1989), there is virtually no understanding of its maritime and coastal activities until the emergence of the fully ur- banised and historically documented trading societies of the Swahili coast. While the cultures, languages and, in some cases, genetic traits of the Swahili and Malagasy-speaking populations of East Africa and Madagascar reflect a rich and ancient set of long-distance linkages with Arabia, India and Southeast Asia, mystery continues to surround the emergence of these connections. This review therefore aims to explore and update the evidence for East Africa’s early role in the Indian Ocean. Given the existence of previous reviews (e.g. Mitchell 2005; Horton and Middleton 2000; Sheriff 2010), the goal is not so much an exhaustive as a critical and more expansive multidisciplinary review of the existing literature. In particular, this study aims to bring to bear more systematically the available biological evidence for early Indian Ocean contacts, including zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical datasets. In addition, it also seeks to examine the various questions and themes related to East Africa’s place in the Indian Ocean in light of emerging molecular genetic evidence, primarily plant and animal, but also human. The aim is to offer a synthesis of available information, and to help shape an agenda for future research. The review will suggest a role for a more multidisciplinary approach that also draws upon new molecular genetic techniques, which hold the potential 123 J World Prehist Table 1 Sample of some key species dispersals in the Indian Ocean Type Species Origin and suggested dates (if available) Animal Chicken, Gallus gallus South/Southeast Asia; inputs up the Nile and across Indian Ocean (domestic) Zebu cattle, Bos indicus South Asia; in Africa by 1500–2000 BC (?) (Boivin and Fuller 2009) Animal Asian house shrew, Suncus South/Southeast Asia; now widespread in Indian Ocean (Fuller (commensal) murinus and Boivin 2009) Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes Southeast Asia; now as far west as Madagascar by early second albopictus millennium AD, and on most islands of Indian Ocean; expansion to rest of Africa, Europe, Americas more recent (Vazeille et al. 2001; Benedict et al. 2007) Black rat (ship rat), Rattus rattus South/Southeast Asia; now widespread in Indian Ocean (Fuller and Boivin 2009) House gecko, Hemidactylus Natural distribution across much of mainland Eurasia; transfer to Indian Ocean islands via natural and anthropogenic means House mouse, Mus musculus Asia (probably from northern India to Southwest Asia); we can assess the role of inputs up the Nile vis-a`-vis those across the Indian Ocean (Fuller and Boivin 2009) Pygmy shrew, Suncus etruscus South/Southeast Asia; transferred west to Madagascar (Omar et al. 2011), perhaps by direct maritime route Animal (wild) Feral domestic pig (wild boar), Sus Eurasia multiple times; now widespread in Indian Ocean (Walsh scrofa 2007) Javan mongoose, Herpestes South/Southeast Asia (Walsh 2007) javanicus Small Indian civet, Viverricula South/Southeast Asia; now widespread in Indian Ocean (Walsh indica 2007) Plant Areca nut, betel-nut, Areca catechu Southeast Asia, now grown in Madagascar, Tanzanian coast and (domestic) islands; plausible Malagasy/Austronesian introduction; mentioned by Ibn Battuta, 14th C AD (Zumbroich 2007) Asian yam, Dioscorea alata Southeast Asia; now throughout Africa (Harris 1967; Blench 2006) Asiatic rice, Oryza sativa South/East/Southeast Asia; now widespread in Indian Ocean, on Pemba by c. AD 1000 (Walshaw 2010); imports to Berenike, Egypt in Roman period (Cappers 2006) Banana, Musa sapientum Indonesia/New Guinea; in East Africa by c. 500 BC (?); phytoliths from Cameroun, c. 500–300 BC (Mbida et al. 2006; Blench 2009) Baobab, Adansonia digitata West Africa, widespread in East Africa, western Indian Ocean islands, NW Madagascar, India; on Pemba by c. AD 700 (Walshaw 2010) Broomcorn millet, Panicum East Asia; in South Asia and Arabia by c. 2000 BC; Nubia by c. miliaceum 1700 BC; absent from Near East until 1400 BC (Fuller and Boivin 2009) Cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum South India and Sri Lanka, now widespread in cultivation in the (syn. Cinnamomum zeylanicum) tropics, including in Central Africa, East Africa and on Zanzibar Coconut palm, Cocos nucifera Wild in Sri Lanka, coastal Southeast Asia, Seychelles; now widespread in Indian Ocean; on Pemba by c. AD 1000 (Walshaw 2010) Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata West Africa; in India by 1700–1600 BC (Boivin and Fuller 2009) Drumstick tree, Moringa oleifera India (Asouti and Fuller 2008), now widespread in East Africa Finger millet, Eleusine coracana East Africa (Ethiopia), in India by 1700–1200 BC (Boivin and Fuller 2009) Hemp, Cannabis sativa China/Central Asia(?), in India by c. 1900 BC (see Fuller and Madella 2001); now widely cultivated in East Africa 123 J World Prehist Table 1 Sample of some key species dispersals in the Indian Ocean Type Species Origin and suggested dates (if available) Hyacinth bean, Lablab purpureus East Africa; in India by 1700–1600 BC (Boivin and Fuller 2009) Jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus South India, cultivated by c. 1400 BC (Asouti and Fuller 2008), cultivated from East
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