Research Catalog
Prehistoric Sri Lanka : late Pleistocene rockshelters and an open-air site
- Title
- Prehistoric Sri Lanka : late Pleistocene rockshelters and an open-air site / Halawathage Nima Perera.
- Author
- Perera, Halawathage Nimal.
- Publication
- Oxford, England : Archaeopress, 2010, ©2010.
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | GN855.S74 P47 2010q Oversize | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xv, 268 pages : illustrations; 30 cm.
- Summary
- "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 synthesizes past and current archaeological research in the island as well as presenting new finding from excavations in the Batadomba-lena rock shelter and the open-air site of Bellan-Bendi 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, succeeded by 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."--Archaeology.lk.
- Series Statement
- BAR international series ; 2142
- Uniform Title
- BAR international series ; 2142.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 252-259) and index.
- Contents
- The place of Sri Lanka in prehistory and the place of prehistory in Sri Lanka -- History of prehistoric archaeological investigations in Sri Lanka -- Methodology -- Stratigraphy, chronology and sedimentary history of Batadomba-lena rockshelter -- The organic remains from Batadomba-lena -- The technology of Batadomba-lena stone, bone, antler and shell artifacts -- Bellan-Bendi Palassa: an open-air prehistoric site -- Prehistoric social archaeology in Sri Lanka -- Toward the amplified study of the prehistory of Sri Lanka.
- ISBN
- 9781407306834
- 1407306839
- LCCN
- 2010530018
- OCLC
- ocn682146807
- 682146807
- SCSB-1582103
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library