Zoroastrianism is another religion, or cultural memory, that had an emphasis on fire pits and ritual. Christians and Moslems have both rejected the idea of fire and tend to see Zoroastrianism as a primitive belief system. Moslems in India were, and are, especially critical of Hindu fire ritual and Hindu gods with an explicit association with fire [from the sky]. Might they not like the idea of fire in belief and myth as it is seen as a backward, but ancient, pagan idea. This is from a religion that came into being after a heavy shower of green meteorites in the sky – but thankfully NOT raining fire on humans below. The prophet himself is even said to have crossed from Arabia to Jerusalem on a sky horse = a comet. Jewish religious expectations also involve a visitation in the sky – the return of the messiah, whilst the Bible used by Christians is full of catastrophic imagery if you know where to look. Hinduism and Zoroastrianism are much older than Islam and Christianity and more likely reflect something later generations have been eager to remove from their minds. That smacks of something like Velikovsky’s ‘Mankind in Amnesia‘ – but if the facts fit …
At https://phys.org/news/2024-09-enigmatic-archaeological-site-madagascar-built.html … at the turn of the Ist millennium AD, around a thousand years ago, an unknown people lived on the Isalo Massif in Madagascar. It is now a national park. They built a vast terrace system to grow their food and carved out large stone chambers with small hollow rock niches within. No similar architecture exists anywhere else on Madagascar – or in East Africa, its nearest coastline. It is now being suggested, in a new archaeological investigation, the people practised Zoroastrianism. This was a religion practised in what was once Persia, and is thought to have an origin in Iranian peoples of the steppe. The site has been dated between the 10th and 12 centuries AD – or a bit later. The inhabitants therefore had a connection with the Indian Ocean trade network – which seems to be a fact considering the origins of pottery and other artifacts found in Madagascar. These included SE Asia ceramics and Chinese celadon, as well as SE Asian stoneware, dating between the 10th and 14th centuries.
The local population has genetic, cultural and linguistic ties to India, Arabia, and Persia – as well as Austronesia, we are told. The latter appears to be a reference to people with a similar pedigree to Pacific Polynesians – via what is now Malaya. Rock cut niches in various shapes and size are fairly common in some parts of what is now Iran – including the Fars region. Very similar to the Madasgascar examples. There is one difference, they were used to deposit bones in Iran but no trace of bones have been found in the Madagascar rock cut niches. It seems they may have been robbed at some point in the past to be used in ritual associated with incoming groups of people. They must have been pretty thorough to remove all the bones.
However, the theory, not accepted yet, seems to have a lot going for it. In Iran the niches are associated with Zoroastrian funeral rites – since Sassanid times. Historical sources record certain regions of Iran having a role in maritime trade routes – since the era of the Persians. They sailed the ocean as far east as China and as far west as East Africa and Madagascar. It continued even after the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD, imposing Islam on the locals. However, as Moslems were not in sufficient numbers for several centuries, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians continued to practise their own religions. There was co-existence of the new faith with the old ones. Their disappearance in Madagascar may have a connection with Zoroastrian persecution in Iran as Moslem numbers increased and they sought to eliminate early forms of pagan religion. A bit like post-Exilic Jewish religion eliminating Canaanite ritual and belief. Or Christians in the Roman Empire eliminating pagan gods and temples. On the other hand their disappearance may have something to do with the Black Death pandemic in the middle of the 14th century – brought to Madagascar by the maritime traders.
At https://phys.org/news/2024-09-previously-unknown-neolithic-society-morocco.html …. a previously unknown Neolithic society discovered in Morocco. In other words, an early farming community in the furthest of the western Mediterranean. It was located in the Maghreb. This region has the shortest crossing point to Europe – the Straits of Gibraltar. The Maghreb was important during the Palaeolithic period, and again, somewhat later, in the Iron Age, the Roman era, and in the Islamic ascendancy. Not much is known about the Maghreb between 4000 and 1000BC. Archaeology is probably quite new in the region. The new results show that the Maghreb was a large agricultural region at this time, possibly more so than any other part of North Africa apart from the Nile Valley. However, one has to bear in mind that research into Neolithic societies elsewhere in North Africa is in its infancy. We may also note that similar pottery and lithics, as well as domesticated animals and plant varieties are also found on the other side of the Straits. Neolithic people settled on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. ,