Prehistoric Sri Lanka
Late Pleistocene rockshelters and an open-air site
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19947254 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Halawathage Nimal Perera (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Pages | 268 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Prehistoric Sri Lanka (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | University of Michigan Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.30861/9781407306834 |
| OpenAlex | W637106602 |
| Open Library | OL30501282M |
| ISBN | 9781407306834 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
Sri Lanka is a tropical island that lies approximately halfway between Africa and Australia along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean, and has one of the best recorded prehistoric sequences in South Asia. A review of its prehistory is a vast subject. The present study investigates the island's hunter-gatherer archaeology between the Late Pleistocene and the middle Holocene, with lowland Wet Zone rockshelters as the principle topic of study. This work synthesises past and current archaeological research in the island as well as presenting new findings from excavations in the Batadomba-lena rockshelter and the open-air site of Bellan-bandi Palassa. The excavation of Batadomba-lena has provided fresh data for understanding human adaptations to the changing environment between approximately 36,000 and 12,000 years ago. A rainforest environment evidently persisted throughout this period in the environs of the site, but the climate was cooler at around the Last Glacial Maximum. Intensive occupation, succeededby increased attention to the management of plant resources, followed the Last Glacial Maximum. Microliths, small tools defined by the presence of blunting retouch, as well as the bifacially trimmed Balangoda Point and polished bone points, were evident from the earliest occupation. The symbolic capacities of the inhabitants were also revealed through the recovery of ornaments and ochre fragments throughout the sequence. The Batadomba-lena sequence has important implications for the Out-of-Africa theory on modern human origins, as well as Sri Lanka's recognition of its cultural heritage
Ancient history · Archaeology · Excavation · Geography · Holocene · Open air · Pleistocene · Prehistory · South asia · Sri lanka · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geology · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Antiquities · Caves
Fruits of the forest
Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia
Coastal foragers beyond the mainland
Bone Technology from Late Pleistocene Caves and Rockshelters of Sri Lanka
Examining the Origins of Hafting in South Asia
Phytoliths as indicators of Quaternary vegetation at the Paleolithic site of Attirampakkam, India
Rockshelter sedimentation in a dynamic tropical landscape
From Batticaloa via Basel to Berlin. Transimperial Science in Ceylon and Beyond around 1900
People of the ancient rainforest
Foragers, tropical forests and the formation of archaeological evidences
Ma'anshan cave and the origin of bone tool technology in China
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition at Panga ya Saidi, in the tropical coastal forest of eastern Africa
A southern Indian Middle Palaeolithic occupation surface sealed by the 74 ka Toba eruption
We have never been behaviourally modern’
First technological comparison of Southern African Howiesons Poort and South Asian Microlithic industries
The Sri Lankan ‘Microlithic’ Tradition c. 38,000 to 3,000 Years Ago
Archaeology and ecology of acavus snails in Sri Lanka’s semi-arid to intermediate zones
The Discovery and Excavation of a Human Burial from the Mini-athiliya Shell Midden in Southern Sri Lanka
Pleistocene rainforests
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,12 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |