Late Pleistocene to early-Holocene rainforest foraging in Sri Lanka:Multidisciplinary analysis at Kitulgala Beli-lena

Sri Lanka has produced the earliest clear evidence for Homo sapiens fossils in South Asia and research in the region has provided important insights into modern human adaptations and cultural practices during the last ca. 45,000 years. However, in-depth multidisciplinary analyses of Late Pleistocene and Holocene sequences remain limited to just two sites, Fa Hien-lena and Batadomba-lena. Here, we present our findings from the reinvestigation of a third site, Kitulgala Beli-lena. New chronometric dating from the site confirms the presence of humans as early as ca. 45,000 cal. BP. in the island's Wet Zone rainforest region. Our analyses of macrobotanical, molluscan, and vertebrate remains from the rockshelter show that this early human presence is associated with rainforest foraging. The Late Pleistocene deposits yielded evidence of wild breadfruit and kekuna nut extraction while the Holocene layers reveal a heavy reliance on semi-arboreal and arboreal small mammals as well as freshwater snails as a protein source. The lithic and osseous artefacts demonstrate that populations developed a sophisticated tool kit for the exploitation of their immediate landscapes. We place the rich Kitulgala Beli-lena dataset in its wider Sri Lankan context of Late Pleistocene foraging, as well as in wider discussions of our species’ adaptation to ‘extreme’ environments as it moved throughout Asia

Microliths in the South Asian rainforest ~45-4 ka: New insights from Fa-Hien Lena Cave, Sri Lanka

Microliths–small, retouched, often-backed stone tools–are often interpreted to be the product of composite tools, including projectile weapons, and efficient hunting strategies by modern humans. In Europe and Africa these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting of medium- and large-sized game found in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations to risky environments during periods of climatic change. Here, we report on a recently excavated lithic assemblage from the Late Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforest of Sri Lanka. Our analyses demonstrate that Fa-Hien Lena represents the earliest microlith assemblage in South Asia (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP) in firm association with evidence for the procurement of small to medium size arboreal prey and rainforest plants. Moreover, our data highlight that the lithic technology of Fa-Hien Lena changed little over the long span of human occupation (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP to c. 4,000 cal. years BP) indicating a successful, stable technological adaptation to the tropics. We argue that microlith assemblages were an important part of the environmental plasticity that enabled Homo sapiens to colonise and specialise in a diversity of ecological settings during its expansion within and beyond Africa. The proliferation of diverse microlithic technologies across Eurasia c. 48–45 ka was part of a flexible human ‘toolkit’ that assisted our species’ spread into all of the world’s environments, and the development of specialised technological and cultural approaches to novel ecological situations

Historical Tropical Forest Reliance amongst the Wanniyalaeto (Vedda) of Sri Lanka: an Isotopic Perspective.

Headland and Bailey (1991) argued in Human Ecology that tropical forests could not support long-term human foraging in the absence of agriculture. Part of their thesis was based on the fact that supposedly isolated 'forest' foragers, such as the Wanniyalaeto (or Vedda) peoples of Sri Lanka, could be demonstrated to be enmeshed within historical trade networks and rely on crops as part of their overall subsistence. Yet, in the same volume and in the years that followed scholars have presented ethnographic and archaeological evidence, including from Sri Lanka, that counter this proposition, demonstrating the occupation and exploitation of tropical rainforest environments back to 38,000 years ago (ka) in this part of the world. However, archaeological and ethnohistorical research has yet to quantify the overall reliance of human foragers on tropical forest resources through time. Here, we report stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from historical Wanniyalaeto individuals from Sri Lanka, in full collaboration with the present-day members of this group, that suggest that while a number of individuals made use of agricultural resources in the recent past, others subsisted primarily on tropical forest resources as late as the 1800s.Max Planck Society Natural Environmental Research Council Boise Fund, University of Oxford European Research Counci

Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago

Defining the distinctive capacities of Homo sapiens relative to other hominins is a major focus for human evolutionary studies. It has been argued that the procurement of small, difficult-to-catch, agile prey is a hallmark of complex behavior unique to our species; however, most research in this regard has been limited to the last 20,000 years in Europe and the Levant. Here, we present detailed faunal assemblage and taphonomic data from Fa-Hien Lena Cave in Sri Lanka that demonstrates specialized, sophisticated hunting of semi-arboreal and arboreal monkey and squirrel populations from ca. 45,000 years ago, in a tropical rainforest environment. Facilitated by complex osseous and microlithic technologies, we argue these data highlight that the early capture of small, elusive mammals was part of the plastic behavior of Homo sapiens that allowed it to rapidly colonize a series of extreme environments that were apparently untouched by its hominin relatives

Mid-Late Holocene Sub-Millennial Scale Inverse Trends of South Asian Summer and Winter Monsoons in Sri Lanka

The South Asian Monsoon (SAM) brings precipitation crucial for agriculture across the densely populated region of South Asia. Identifying the key long-term drivers of the SAM is essential to improve the predictability of future monsoonal trends in the context of current global climate scenarios and increasingly frequent drought and flooding events in this part of the world. Here, we reconstruct similar to 6000 years of climatic and environmental history of the South Asian summer monsoon-fed Bolgoda South Lake and the Horton Plains, and the winter monsoon-fed Panama lagoon, in Sri Lanka to better understand monsoonal operation over this island and its connection to broader climate systems. Multiple proxies (diagnostic biomarkers, hydrogen and carbon isotopes of individual n-alkane, grain size, and Zr/Rb elemental ratio) indicate a sub-millennial scale decreasing trend of summer monsoon rainfall in the wet zone of Sri Lanka alongside an increasing trend of winter monsoon rainfall in the dry zone during the last similar to 6000 years. We also observed multi-centennial scale arid events in the Bolgoda South Lake and Horton Plains records at similar to 3,500 and similar to 1,000 cal years BP. Inverse monsoonal behavior during the mid- and late Holocene seems to be led by the southward migration of the mean latitudinal position of ITCZ, induced by varying solar energy distribution between the Northern and Southern hemispheres due to Earths processional cycle. Our observations are broadly supported by existing paleoclimatic records from the Indian sub-continent, but abrupt arid phases are asynchronous in the regional records. In addition, these short-term arid conditions do not show systematic correlations with the different modes of climate variables known to have teleconnections with the Indian Ocean monsoon.Funding Agencies|Max Planck SocietyMax Planck SocietyFoundation CELLEX; International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles (IMPRS-gBGC)</p

Early Holocene Human Burials from Fa Hien-lena and Kuragala, Sri Lanka

Few human burials from Sri Lankan archaeological contexts have been described. Here we report on the analysis of two early Holocene skeletons, FH8, a young adult female skeleton excavated from Fa Hien-lena and dated to 10,640-10,139 cal BP, and BK1, a middle adult male skeleton excavated at Kuragala and dated to 7,170-6,950 cal BP.  The skeletons are both highly fragmentary, which poses challenges for their thorough analysis. However, this paper describes the archaeological context, mortuary treatment and archaeothanatology of the burials, post-mortem taphonomy of human remains, the osteobiography of both individuals, and some general observations on their morphology relative to one another and a broader range of late Pleistocene and Holocene foragers. The results demonstrate common elements of funerary treatment between these two burials, such as interment on the left side with right hands placed near or over the face. The FH8 individual died at a young age and shows some signs of early childhood stress. Both skeletons show moderate to high degrees of tooth wear for their relative ages, and no evidence for dental disease. The body size estimates of FH8 and BK1 fall in the range that would be expected of tropical or temperate forest foragers, although BK1 has a relatively low body mass relative to stature, which aligns his phenotype with populations of more arid environments. We demonstrate that much can be potentially learned about human populations and prehistoric behaviours from skeletal analyses. </jats:p

Microliths in the South Asian rainforest ~45-4 ka: New insights from Fa-Hien Lena Cave, Sri Lanka

Microliths–small, retouched, often-backed stone tools–are often interpreted to be the product of composite tools, including projectile weapons, and efficient hunting strategies by modern humans. In Europe and Africa these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting of medium- and large-sized game found in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations to risky environments during periods of climatic change. Here, we report on a recently excavated lithic assemblage from the Late Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforest of Sri Lanka. Our analyses demonstrate that Fa-Hien Lena represents the earliest microlith assemblage in South Asia (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP) in firm association with evidence for the procurement of small to medium size arboreal prey and rainforest plants. Moreover, our data highlight that the lithic technology of Fa-Hien Lena changed little over the long span of human occupation (c. 48,000–45,000 cal. years BP to c. 4,000 cal. years BP) indicating a successful, stable technological adaptation to the tropics. We argue that microlith assemblages were an important part of the environmental plasticity that enabled Homo sapiens to colonise and specialise in a diversity of ecological settings during its expansion within and beyond Africa. The proliferation of diverse microlithic technologies across Eurasia c. 48–45 ka was part of a flexible human ‘toolkit’ that assisted our species’ spread into all of the world’s environments, and the development of specialised technological and cultural approaches to novel ecological situations