Social networks as risk-mitigation strategies in south-west Madagascar

• Autores: Dylan S. Davis, Tanambelo Rasolondrainy, George Manahira, Sean Hixon, Vanillah Andriankaja, Laurance Hubertine, Ricky Justome, François Lahiniriko, Harson Léonce, Razafimagnefa Roi, Faralahy Victorian, Marius Brenah Jean Clovis, Vavisoa Voahirana, Tahirisoa Lorine Carina, Augustin Jean Yve, Zafy Maharesy Chrisostome, Barthélémy Manjakahery, Kristina Douglass
• Localización: Antiquity, ISSN 0003-598X, Vol. 97, Nº 395, 2023, págs. 1296-1312
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Palaeoenvironmental data indicate that the climate of south-western Madagascar has changed repeatedly over the past millennium. Combined with socio-political challenges such as warfare and slave raiding, communities continually had to mitigate against risk. Here, the authors apply social network analysis to pottery assemblages from sites on the Velondriake coast to identify intercommunity connectivity and changes over time. The results indicate both continuity of densely connected networks and change in their spatial extent and structure. These network shifts coincided with periods of socio-political and environmental perturbation attested in palaeoclimate data and oral histories. Communities responded to socio-political and environmental risk by reconfiguring social connections and migrating to areas of greater resource availability or political security.