Public archaeology and indigenous communities

Abstract

From an English perspective, the region of Androy is a dry, hot and desolate desert lacking in all the creature comforts that make life bearable. In the words of a Tandroy saying, it is “drier than a dog’s crotch in the dry season.” There is no electricity or running water and the tiny wooden houses possess no furniture other than straw mats. There is scarcely any standing water in the nine-month-long dry season and the dry riverbeds are pockmarked by holes dug into the sand to seek out the hidden water below. There are eas, lice, cockroaches, poisonous spiders, scorpions and (non-poisonous) snakes.