5 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Madagascar’s Enigmatic Rock-Cut Architecture may have been of Zoroastrian origin

An international team of researchers found an enigmatic rock-cut architecture at Teniky, a site in the remote Isalo Massif in southern Madagascar, that has no parallels on the island or the East African coast.

The research was initiated under Guido Schreurs, associate professor at the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Researchers have documented many newly discovered archaeological structures, including terraces, stone walls, stone basins, and rock-cut structures in various sizes, shapes, and forms constructed in the late first/early second millennia AD.

Archaeological excavations and field prospecting at Teniky reveal a much larger and more important archaeological landscape than previously known.

Surprisingly, the closest stylistic parallels to this architecture can be found thousands of kilometers away, in present-day Iran, specifically in the Fars region. The rock-cut niches at Teniky show similarities to those known from various sites throughout Iran, dated to the first millennium or older and related to Zoroastrian funerary practices.

A series of four circular rock-cut niches. Photo: G. Schreurs et al.

The recently discovered rock-cut niches and carved sandstone walls were constructed in the late first millennium/early second millennium, roughly the tenth to twelfth century AD, according to radiocarbon dating of charcoal found during excavations. This dating coincides with the presence of sherds of Chinese and Southeast Asian pottery, generally dating to the 11th to 14th centuries.

Despite being more than 200 kilometers from the closest coast, this finding is especially intriguing because it demonstrates that Teniky’s residents were a part of Indian Ocean trade networks during the medieval era.

The researchers interpreted the rock-carved architecture at Teniky as part of a former necropolis made by settlers with Zoroastrian origins. However, they note that further archaeological research is needed to test this hypothesis and address general questions.

Teniky: images of the niches: a–b) quadrangular rock-cut niches; c–d) the presence of tool marks in the niches. These are absent in the underlying brown-reddish layer in (d), which is friable and erodes more easily. Photo: G. Schreurs et al.

Researchers have not excluded the possibility that the archaeological structures at Teniky were the work of a group of people whose specific rites and beliefs developed and evolved after their arrival on the island and whose rock-cut structures show, by chance, formal similarities to Zoroastrian ones in Iran.

However, they believe that the people who came to the coast of Madagascar and eventually settled on Teniky brought their rituals and beliefs from outside the island and continued to practice them in a similar way while there.

Dr. Schreurs and his colleagues emphasize independent of the origin, religion, and funerary rites of Teniky’s former inhabitants, further archaeological studies are required to fully situate it within Madagascar and the western Indian Ocean.

Photograph of rock-cut niches N2–N8 at the rock shelter in Zone 1 with a stone basin (ST18) in the foreground. Photo: G. Schreurs et al.

Schreurs, G., Allegro, T., Rouvinez, M., Radimilahy, C., Raharinoro, J., Fanny Sabe, N., … Szidat, S. (2024). Teniky: enigmatic architecture at an archaeological site in southern Madagascar. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 1–44.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2024.2380619

Cover Image: G. Schreurs et al.

Related Articles

Construction Workers Discovered Ancient Sarcophagus in Turkey

2 March 2021

2 March 2021

On Monday, reports said that during excavations in the Seyitgazi region of Eskisehir Province in northwestern Turkey, municipal staff unexpectedly...

Radar Detects Long-lost River in Egypt and Could Explain How The Pyramids Were Built

22 May 2024

22 May 2024

More than 30 pyramids in Egypt are located in an unremarkable strip of barren desert far from the shores of...

The easternmost Roman aqueduct in Armenia was discovered

19 November 2021

19 November 2021

Archaeologists from the University of Münster and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia have discovered remains...

Ancient stone grenades discovered at Badaling Great Wall in Beijing

16 October 2023

16 October 2023

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed 59 ancient stone grenades from the ruins of a building in the western section of the...

2,000 Bronze Statue Fragments Found in Ancient Scrap Yard

20 January 2025

20 January 2025

Archaeologists in Izmir, Turkey have made an extraordinary discovery in the ancient city of Metropolis: Approximately 2,000 bronze statue fragments...

Ancient terracotta dancers, and musicians unearthed in China

13 November 2022

13 November 2022

Chinese archaeologists recently discovered a large group of terracotta figurines from a tomb in a group dating to the Northern...

Human Presence in Malta Earlier Than Previously Thought: Hunter-Gatherers Navigated 100 km by Sea 1,000 Years Before Farmers

14 April 2025

14 April 2025

Recent archaeological findings have dramatically reshaped our understanding of human history in the Mediterranean, revealing that hunter-gatherers were capable of...

A Life-Size Funerary High Relief Discovered in Pompeii’s Porta Sarno Necropolis

3 April 2025

3 April 2025

A research project titled “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii,” developed by the Universitat de València in collaboration with...

Ancient Mythical Castle “Sörby Borg” Discovered on Swedish Island Creates Archaeological Sensation

4 August 2021

4 August 2021

A text from the early 18th century mentions the castle, which has become a bit of a legend. It has...

The Oldest Evidence of Stone Blade Production in Southern Arabia: 80,000-Year-Old Stone Blades Discovered

21 February 2025

21 February 2025

An international team of researchers led by Knut Bretzke of Friedrich Schiller University Jena uncovered 80,000-year-old stone blades at the...

Manot Cave yielded evidence for ritualistic gathering 35,000 years ago, the earliest on the Asian continent

13 January 2025

13 January 2025

Archaeological research at the Manot Cave in what is now the Galilee in northern Israel has uncovered evidence of ritualistic...

A rare Pictish stone was found near the potential site of the famous Scottish battle that led to the creation of Scotland

7 March 2022

7 March 2022

A team of archaeologists has discovered a Pictish symbol stone close to the site of what is thought to have...

Part of lost star catalog of Hipparchus found hidden in Medieval parchment

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

Hipparchus’ fabled star catalog, which had been thought to be lost, was discovered concealed in a medieval parchment that had...

Dingoes were regarded as “almost human” in pre-colonial Australia

21 October 2023

21 October 2023

When it comes to Australia’s wild dingoes, the phrase “a dog is a man’s best friend” takes on new meaning....

New Insights From Researchers About The World’s Longest Aqueduct

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

The Roman Empire’s aqueducts are magnificent specimens of the art of architecture. Although centuries have passed since these aqueducts were...