Abstract
The Malagasy today have unique society composed of blended cultures of Austronesian and African background. Despite the recognized existence of Western Malayo-Polynesian language so close to African cultural territory, archaeological data discovered in Madagascar to date provides only little information on the origin of the Malagasy cultures. The existence of Western Malayo-Polynesian-speaking people in Madagascar suggests the knowledge of making pottery. However, apparently the pottery found in Madagascar is rather difficult to compare with that found in Sumatra, Java and Borneo, due to lack of absolute dating. On the other hand similarities between Malagasy and languages spoken in Indonesia suggest that the Austronesians, who migrated to Madagascar spoke a language belonged to the subgroup of Barito from South Borneo. The evidence of Sanskrit loanwords in Malagasy also suggests that the migrants left Barito immediately after the arrival of Hindu influences in South Borneo. Furthermore, ethnographical data show that Malagasy has a close resemblance of customs to the Dayaks of South Borneo, especially in death rituals. Other indirect evidence of Austronesian and African influences into Malagasy is the remains of iron smelting and the term tempa found in the Malagasy language. The East African Bantu undeniably have contributed some linguistic elements such as vocabulary and word structure. Nevertheless, the differences of lifestyle between those of Austronesian descent and the Bantu are directly visible based in the choices of dwelling place, respectively, in the highland and coastal areas, and physical characteristics.
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Published in: Simanjuntak, Truman et.al. (eds.). 2006. Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective. R.P. Soejono's Festschrift. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences and International Center for Prehistoric and Austronesian Studies. pg: 543-548. ISBN 979-26-2499-6
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