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The Sri Lankan ‘Microlithic’ Tradition c. 38,000 to 3,000 Years Ago: Tropical Technologies and Adaptations of Homo sapiens at the Southern Edge of Asia

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Journal of World Prehistory Aims and scope

Abstract

The prehistoric archaeology of Sri Lanka is of considerable significance for investigations of the evolution, dispersal and adaptation of our species within a variety of environments beyond Africa during the Late Pleistocene. In particular, the archaeological and fossil sequences of Sri Lanka’s ‘Microlithic tradition’, c. 38,000–3,000 cal. years BP, have yielded some of the earliest Homo sapiens fossils, microlithic technologies, osseous toolkits, and evidence for symbolic ornamentation and long-distance contacts anywhere in South Asia. The further association of the Late Pleistocene portion of these records with the tropical rainforest of Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone also makes Sri Lanka of particular interest for debates regarding the viability of tropical rainforest for early human foraging and specialization. Yet beyond mentions of its fossil evidence, the archaeology and palaeoenvironmental contexts of the ‘Microlithic tradition’ have remained little-explored in the international literature. Here we present the first critical review of this period of Sri Lankan prehistory, examining its local chronologies, the spatial and diachronic patterns of its material cultural sequence, and relating its technological and fossil record to broader international archaeological, anthropological and genetic debates.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Peter Mitchell for his comments on an initial draft of this paper. We thank our colleagues for stimulating discussion, especially S. U. Deraniyagala, N. Perera, O. Wedage, L. Lewis, T. Kivisild, J. Krause, and P. Mitchell. We thank Laura Lewis for Fig. 10, John Pouncett for his help with Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and Maciej Wencel and Katerina Douka for their assistance in reviewing and modeling the radiocarbon data used in Figs. 6, 7, and 8. We also thank R. M. Kushumpriya Rajapaksa and N. Perera for their help with Figs. 11 and 12. We acknowledge funding support from the European Research Council (ERC) to M. D. Petraglia (Advanced Grant 295719 ‘PALAEODESERTS) and N. Boivin (Starter Grant 206148, ‘SEALINKS), under the ‘Ideas’ specific Programme of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). P. Roberts is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    Patrick Roberts, Nicole Boivin & Michael Petraglia

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  2. Nicole Boivin
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  3. Michael Petraglia
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Correspondence to Patrick Roberts.

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Roberts, P., Boivin, N. & Petraglia, M. The Sri Lankan ‘Microlithic’ Tradition c. 38,000 to 3,000 Years Ago: Tropical Technologies and Adaptations of Homo sapiens at the Southern Edge of Asia. J World Prehist 28, 69–112 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-015-9085-5

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