Balangoda Man
Balangoda Man refers to
Balangoda Man is estimated to have had thick skulls, prominent
Origin
From an analysis of coastal deposits near Bundala in the
From South Asia in general, there is secure evidence of such early settlement.
Sri Lankan skeletal and cultural discoveries
Compared to the earlier Sri Lankan fossils, the island's fossil records from around 40,000 BP onwards are much more complete. Excavated fossils of skeletal and cultural remains from this period provide the earliest records of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia, and some of the earliest evidence for the use of a specific type of stone tool.[4][5][6][9]
The Fa Hien Cave in the Kalutara district in Sri Lanka, one of the largest caves on the island, has yielded some of the earliest such fossils.[8] Radiometric dating from excavated charcoal samples indicated that the cave was occupied from 34,000 to 5,400 BP, a period that was found to be consistent with the occupational levels of some other caves on the island.[11] Dates from cultural sequences at the cave suggested a slightly earlier settlement from 38,000 BP.[3] The oldest skeletal remains unearthed from Fa Hien Cave were that of a child with an associated radiocarbon dating of 30,000 BP.[11]
Caves in
Along with some sites in Africa that have also revealed geometric microliths from contexts earlier than 27,000 BP, those recovered from caves in
Mesolithic sites in the Sabaragamuva and Uva provinces in Sri Lanka confirmed that microlithic technology continued on the island, albeit at a lower frequency, until the onset of the historical period, traditionally the 6th century BC.[5] Cultural sequences at rock shelters showed that microliths were gradually replaced by other types of tools including grinding stones, pestles, mortars, and pitted hammers-stones towards the late Pleistocene, specifically 13,000-14,000 BP.[3]
Other sites that have revealed ancient human skeletal fragments are the Beli lena cave and Bellanbandi Palassa in the Ratnapura district. Carbon samples corresponding to the fragments were dated to respectively 12,000 BP for the former site and 6,500 BP for the latter, suggesting that the island may have been relatively continuously occupied during this time frame.[6]
Physical traits and cultural practices
Certain samples of Balangoda Man were estimated to be 174 cm tall for males and 166 cm tall for females,
Apart from the microliths, hand-axes from Meso-Neolithic times were discovered at Bellanbandi Palassa, which were manufactured from slabs extracted from the leg bones of elephants, and also daggers or celts made from sambar antler.[2] From the same period, this and other sites have also yielded evidence of widespread use of ochre, domesticated dogs, differentiated use of space, inferred burials, and the strong use of fire.[3][4][5]
Other cultural discoveries of interest from the Meso-Neolithic period included articles of personal ornamentation and animals utilised as food, e.g. fish bones, seashell-based beads and shell pendants, shark vertebra beads, lagoon shells, molluscan remains, carbonised wild banana, breadfruit epicarps, and polished bone tools.[2][3]
The frequency at which the marine shells, shark teeth and shark beads occurred at the different cave sites suggested that the cave dwellers likely had direct contact with the coast around 40 km away;[1] Beli lena also showed signs that salt had been brought back from the coast.[3]
The microlithic tradition appears to have been contemporaneous with high mobility, the use of rainforest resources and adaptation to changing climate and environment.[3] The discovery of geometric microliths at Horton Plains, located on the southern plateau of the central highlands of Sri Lanka, suggests that the area was visited by prehistoric humans from the Mesolithic period.[3] One possible interpretation is that in their annual cycle of foraging for food, prehistoric hunter-gatherers that lived in lowland rock-shelters periodically visited the Horton Plains for hunting—possibly wild cattle, sambur and deer—and gathering foods such as wild cereals.[3] While it was likely used as a temporary camp-site, Horton Plains does not appear to have been used for more permanent settlement.[3] From the late Pleistocene and Holocene periods there is evidence for the use of several lowland rainforest plant resources including wild breadfruit and banana, and canarium nuts.[3]
The transition from hunter-foraging to food production with domesticated cereals and other plants seems to have begun in some tropical regions at the beginning of the Holocene.[3] Until then, humans probably exploited the Horton Plains wetland, grassland and rainforest resources using slash-and-burn techniques, and facilitated the growth of rice fields.[3]
Link with indigenous people
It is surmised that the Balgonda man was
Veddas have relatively smaller statures, significantly more robust skulls, dental differences, including somewhat larger molar crown sizes, and greater cranial diversity than populations of southern India.[8][17] While some of these features are also distinct from the Sinhalese and Tamil co-inhabitants of the island, and from Veddas with Portuguese, Dutch or British ancestry,[8] some claim that certain other features including genetic traits do appear among present-day Sri Lankans, suggesting that their ancestry traces back to some of the earliest human settlers on the island.[1][16]
A recent genetic study has found indigenous Vedda people to probably be earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka.[18] The Vedda people’s mitochondrial sequences were found to be more related to the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils than to the Indian Tamils.[18] There has not been any ancient DNA study of Paleolithic or Mesolithic remains from Sri Lanka.
List of prehistoric caves and locations
- Belilena – Kitulgala
- Wavula Pane – Ratnapura
- Batadombalena – Kuruwita
- Fa Hien Cave – Kalutara
- Bellanbandi Palassa – Pansadara Chena, Balangoda
- Horton Plains
- Dorawaka Lena – Kegalle
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Deraniyagala, Siran U. (1996). "Pre- and Protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka". Congress of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. 5 (16): 277–285.
- ^ a b c Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1963). "Prehistoric Archaeology in Ceylon". Asian Perspectives. 7: 189–192.
- ^ .
- ^ S2CID 129836461.
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- JSTOR 42929009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Kennedy, Kenneth A. R. (2013). Abraham, Shinu; Gullapalli, Praveena; Raczek, Teresa P.; Rizvi, Uzma Z. (eds.). Connections and complexity: New approaches to the archaeology of South Asia. pp. 35–44.
- ^ S2CID 12529822.
- ^ S2CID 41762434.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kennedy, Kenneth A. R. (2000). God-apes and Fossil Men: Paleoanthropology of South Asia. University of Michigan Press. pp. 180–181.
- ^ Deraniyagala, P. E. P. A. R. (1955). "Some aspects of the prehistory of Ceylon". Spolia Zeylanica. 27 (2): 295–303.
- S2CID 129232074.
- ^ a b Deraniyagala, S. U. (1992). The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an ecological perspective. Department of Archaeological Survey, Government of Sri Lanka.
- ISBN 9789351182399.
- ^ PMID 8543296.
- S2CID 126876917.
- ^ a b Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations.