Teniky is a geological and archaeological site located in the Isalo Massif, a mountainous formation in Madagascar's southwestern Ihorombe region. It is situated in relative isolation and seclusion, over 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the nearest coast. The site is notable for its unique rock-cut architecture, which is unlike any other found in Madagascar and the wider East African coast. The enigmatic complex spans nearly 8 square kilometers (3.1 square miles), and contains precise stone walls, quarries, terraces, niches, rock-cut boulders and stone basins. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal found at newly-discovered man-made structures at the site found them to date to the 10th–12th centuries CE. Shards of Chinese and Southeast Asian pottery found at Teniky date to the 11th–14th centuries CE. A 2024 study of the rock-cut niches at Teniky identified their closest architectural parallels as first-millennium Zoroastrian niches in Iran, particularly in the Fars region, suggesting that the site may have been a necropolis constructed by settlers of Zoroastrian origin.
Site
The Teniky site is accessible only by hiking across steep and rugged terrain—a journey that took researchers eight hours from the nearest village in 2024. It is situated in relative isolation and seclusion, over 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the nearest coast. Its cirque is accessed from an unpaved road originating in Beroroha and passing through Ranohira, Andriamanero, and Tameantsoa, before becoming a footpath going up the mountains of Isalo to Tsimivositra, crossing the canyon of Kelivozana, descending to Ambatomãra and finally branching north before the abandoned village of Sahanafo. Access from Fandranarivo-Berenty is also possible. The archaeological site features "clustered caves, the entrances to which are partially closed by walls made of cut stones, flat areas with foundation stones, artificially hollowed excavations at the base of the cliffs, carved blocks of stones, etc." The Sahanafo River runs through the complex, and the terrain is marked by geological formations, including a heart-shaped cirque, across plains and wooded areas. Bushpig and lemurs are "plentiful" in the area, and the river contains a large number of eel. A 2024 study by Guido Schreurs, professor of geology at the University of Bern, and others descriptively divides the Teniky site into eight archaeological zones, with the Sahanafo River cutting between the site's eastern and western sides. In Zone 1 are rock-cut niches discovered in 2021. Zone 2, which contains Zone 1, is the westernmost zone of Teniky, comprising a "north-south trending hill with terraces and dry stone walls". Zone 3 contains dry stone walls, including some in a forested area. Zones 4 and 5 contain sandstone quarries on the east and west sides of the Sahanafo, respectively. Zone 6 contains a "nearly closed" circular dry stone wall with a diameter of approximately 150 meters (490 feet). Zone 7 contains terraces and dry stone walls on a ridge. Zone 8 is the previously-known site.
Zone 1
In Zone 1 are nine niches—eight quadrangular and one nearly circular—carved into a cliff under a rock shelter. The very eroded main niche, where most archeological structures are concentrated in the zone, is carved with benches and pillars. Two of the three pillars are thinner towards the bottom, flaring toward the ceiling in a quadrangular shape. The third, central column is not carved thinner or flared, giving it a “more massive, rougher appearance". Two stone structures sit on the bench: one long squared sandstone block flanked centrally by two smaller ones, and one pile of mostly flat and rectangular stones. The long block from the first structure was likely taken from the walls in front of the niche, while the rocks in the pile may have been part of the first structure before being moved. Optically stimulated luminescence on the sediment in this niche was not successful, but radiocarbon dating of charcoal pieces from the niche found them to be 986 ± 22 and 1161 ± 22 years old, suggesting a calibrated origin date of 891–1155 CE. The seven other quadrangular niches and the single circular niche in this rock shelter were excavated but contained no further architectural features or artifacts. Schreurs et al. suggest that the morphology of the niches and pillars in the shelter at Zone 1 indicate two phases of construction, with possibly only a quadrangular niche being carved in the first phase before the addition of the adjacent parts of the structure. In front of the niches is a conglomerate block carved with feet and a regular central depression—maybe a ceremonial basin used to contain fire or water. In the northeast part of the shelter are two sandstone walls faced with a flat area partially lined with rock slabs placed vertically in the ground, as well as a stone basin close to the niches in the southwestern part of the rock overhang. The stone walls were apparently laid directly on the earth without a dug foundational trench, and piles of blocks downhill of the structures were likely part of the intact walls. A structure resembling stairs or an entrance sits at the end of the shorter wall. Excavation along the longer wall found charcoal flakes and ash in the layers of sediment, as well as another layer containing burned roots, indicating possibly natural fire. A stratigraphic excavation along the shorter wall found a man-made layer of dust made of demolished sandstone blocks mixed with sand to stabilize the ground. Beneath this layer is sandy loam with charcoal flakes and unidentified animal bones. The fire’s nature as man-made or natural is indeterminate, and there are no apparent traces of man-made cuts on the bones. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from this site found the samples to be from 891–990 CE and 991–1138 CE. Adjacent to the walls is a two-sided structure defined by stones placed vertically into the earth. Between this structure and the longer wall are two fragments of a stone basin.
A shard of pottery, determined to be of Southeast Asian origin and dated to the 11th–13th centuries CE, was found in excavation of Zone 1. The charcoal and pottery dating suggests that the niches and walls in Zone 1 date to the late first/early second millennia CE. Schreurs et al. consider the entire complex in Zone 1 to likely have been of ritual use, and unlikely to have been of domestic use.
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