OF NETS AND TREES - UNTANGLING THE RETICULATE AND DENDRITIC IN MADAGASCAR PREHISTORY

Archaeological accounts of cultural origin and development often take one of two forms: a dendritic model of diversification and adaptation from a single root or a reticulate model of cultural blending and dive rsification from multiple ancestral stocks. Madagascar has been descri bed as an example of a dendritic development. The formal features of d endritic and reticulate models are described, and then a summary is pr esented of the current evidence for Madagascar's settlement. These dat a neither strongly support a dendritic model nor support any specific reticulate model. The weaknesses of both of these models may derive fr om their implicit focus on origins, rather than historical process.