[blam]

I'm thinking some kind of natural disaster compelled these people to make this trip. Any Ideas?

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Being in the jaws of a large hurricane is no excuse not to make GGG posts.

[Tax Government]

A volcano or tsunami might have gotten them thinking about new places to live.

Or, maybe they knew of the destination in advance from other travelers and thought it would be better.

Or, maybe the leader was crazy and commanded them to build a thousand boats.

[Pittsburg Phil]

Who the hell cares where they came from as long as they don't end up here.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

Being in the jaws of a large hurricane is no excuse not to make GGG posts.

Not even an excuse to migrate to Madagascar, but get rowin'. :')

Archaeological evidence suggests that this settlement was as recent as 1500 years ago - about the time the Saxons invaded Britain.

That figures. The damned Saxons probably invaded Borneo, too, and the Borneans had to paddle out of there, winding up in Madagascar.

I know what your thinkin', I know what you're thinkin'...

Sundaland? If it ever happened, it was too long ago to account for this.

My wild guess is that it's somehow related to the Polynesian expansion. Another possibility is that centuries before that, perhaps during the heyday of Greece and Rome, a population was transplanted for commercial reasons, perhaps to the eastern coast of Egypt, in the same way that a Tamil population was brought there, or came over on its own. Later, say, in the 7th century, they fled the rise of Islam. Shows they've got sense.

The gorilla-sized lemur species (and some other large mammals) went extinct shortly after the arrival of ancestors of the current human population. I do find it odd that such a large island hadn't been settled before, but then, perhaps it had, and no one has dug deep enough yet to find it.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[Verginius Rufus]

From a book published in 1977: "It is now believed that the inhabitants of Madagascar are descendants of settlers from present-day Indonesia (perhaps the island of Borneo), who arrived between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago."

The channel between Africa and Madagascar is comparable in width to the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and North Africa...the inhabitants of mainland Africa had no idea there was a major landmass beyond the horizon. The Malayo-Polynesian population got there first, and later imported people from the mainland, which is why there is African DNA but no African languages among the people of Madagascar. Something similar happened with the Cape Verde Islands.

[SunkenCiv]

Tamil Trade
INTAMM | 1997 | Xavier S. Thani Nayagam
Posted on 09/11/2004 8:07:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1213591/posts

[SunkenCiv]

An Ancient Link To Africa Lives On In Bay Of Bengal
The New York Times | 12-10-2002 | Nicholas Wade
Posted on 12/10/2002 1:09:21 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/804257/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·