South Asia has emerged as a crucial region for understanding the timing and nature of human dispersals from Africa and the Middle East into Southeast Asia and Australasia (Petraglia et al., 2012; Blinkhorn et al., 2013, 2019; Roberts et al., 2017a). In addition to it being located at a key geographical juncture, it also sits at a major biogeographic boundary between the Sahara-Arabian and Afrotropical regions to the west and Palearctic and Sino-Japanese regions to the north (Watts, 1984; Holt et al., 2013; Blinkhorn et al., 2013). Archaeological research in South Asia over the past two decades has pointed to potential multiple, early routes of dispersal into the region (Petraglia et al., 2010; Boivin et al., 2013; Bae et al., 2017; Blinkhorn and Petraglia, 2017), and emphasized the varied and complex local patterns of technological and cultural change (Petraglia et al., 2010, 2012; Blinkhorn et al., 2013), as well as the diversity of the types of terrestrial environments, utilized by early humans (Roberts et al., 2015a, 2017b). This is in contrast to a prominent model that assumes a rapid, coastal ca. 60 ka dispersal of humans, associated with uniform technological features around the Indian Ocean Rim (Mellars, 2006; Mellars et al., 2013).
Research in Sri Lanka, an island at the southern tip of South Asia, has highlighted how early members of our species employed adaptive strategies to take full advantage of their environments such as tropical rainforests. Traditional anthropological and archaeological assumptions have viewed rainforests as barriers to human occupation due to a scarcity of resources, including calorie-rich plants and large animals (Bailey et al., 1989; Gamble, 1993). Nevertheless, Sri Lanka has produced the earliest clear evidence for Homo sapiens fossils in tropical rainforest environments in South Asia (Kennedy et al., 1987; Kennedy and Deraniyagala, 1989; Deraniyagala, 1992; Kennedy, 2000) as well as evidence for heavy reliance on rainforest resources, including specialized hunting of arboreal and semi-arboreal fauna from ∼45,000 years ago through to 3000 years ago (Roberts et al., 2015a,b, 2017b; Wedage et al., 2019a) facilitated by microlithic and osseous technologies (Deraniyagala, 1992; Wijeyapala, 1997; Perera et al., 2011; Wedage et al., 2019a; Langley et al., 2020). However, knowledge of the scale of Late Pleistocene tropical rainforest occupations in the region remains limited since multidisciplinary analyses of archaeological sequences are restricted to two sites: Fa Hien-lena, dated to ca. 45,000 years ago (Wedage et al., 2019a) and Batadomba-lena, dated to ca. 38,000–36,000 years ago (Roberts et al., 2015b).
Traditionally, a third site, Kitulgala Beli-lena, has been grouped with these other two sequences as a source of early human fossils (Kennedy et al., 1987; Kennedy and Deraniyagala, 1989; Wijeyapala, 1997) and microlith adaptations (Deraniyagala, 1992). Yet, this site has been overlooked in recent debates given that existing radiocarbon dates place this sequence considerably later (31,000 years ago – Kourampas et al., 2009). Moreover, a lack of published zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical (though see Kajale, 1989), and detailed technological analysis, as well as the fact that the site required re-dating using methods better equipped to deal with contamination in tropical environments (see Higham et al., 2008), have meant comparisons of Kitulgala Beli-lena to Fa Hien-lena and Batadomba-lena are somewhat superficial. Here, we present the results of renewed excavation and multidisciplinary analyses of materials recovered from Kitulgala Beli-lena. We provide a revised stratigraphy for the site as well as new chronological information. Alongside detailed insights into prey choices, plant use, and sedimentary formation processes at the site, lithic data from the site indicate that Kitulgala Beli-lena was potentially part of a social network of technological procurement and production. In addition, our research highlights possible differential spatial use of cave and rockshelter sites in the Sri Lankan rainforest in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. By placing our data from Kitulgala Beli-lena in its wider Sri Lankan and Asian context we are able to reveal a more complete picture of Late Pleistocene and Holocene human adaptation and presence in this increasingly significant region for human evolutionary research.
Kitulgala Beli-lena is located in the Kegalle district of Sri Lanka’s Sabaragamuwa Province, approximately 85 km east of Colombo (Fig. 1). With a ca. 30 × 15 m north facing entrance, the rockshelter is formed from gneiss bedrock, part of the metamorphic terrain of Sri Lanka’s Highland Complex (Cooray, 1984). Kitulgala Beli-lena is situated in the island’s lowland Wet Zone with a mean annual precipitation between 2500 and 3500 mm/year (Domrös, 1974; Roberts et al., 2015b), surrounded by humid
The 2017 excavation of Kitulgala Beli-lena aimed to recover new archaeological material in order to refine/revise the chronology of the site and better understand human culture, technology, and subsistence strategies. The excavation was situated in the inner western section of the rockshelter, some 5 m from the wall. Following the excavations in the rockshelter in 1985, the exposed sections were covered by stone walls to preserve the integrity of the site. The only portion that was not
The fill of Kitulgala Beli-lena consists of ca. 192 cm of stratified detrital sediments deposited on a heavily weathered and phantomed gneiss bedrock over the last ca. 44,000 years. Thirteen new radiocarbon dates (Table 2) anchor the stratigraphy and resolve it into four phases, each corresponding to a major period of human occupation of the rockshelter (Fig. 2). The sedimentary layers excavated in 2017 correspond to those recorded during the previous excavation of squares H6 and I6 as well as
Our data provide new insights into the foraging strategies and material culture of human populations living at the site of Kitulgala Beli-lena. Firstly, our new radiocarbon dating programme has dramatically revised the dates for the site, making it now one of the oldest dated rockshelter/cave sites in Sri Lanka, and indeed South Asia more broadly. Indeed, the earliest occupation date of 44,000 cal years BP places it approximately contemporaneous to Fa Hien-lena Cave and now earlier than the
OW, PR, SD, NB, MP and NA designed the study with AP and JB in collaboration with PF, AC and KD. OW, AP, JB and NA conducted the site excavation and the recording of stratigraphy and artefact distribution with supervision from PR, SD, NB and MP. The lithic materials were analysed by AP and OW. AC looked at the archaeobotanical remains. Molluscan remains were studied by PF. NA studied the vertebrate faunal remains and the bone tools. KD was responsible for the radiocarbon dating. OW, PR, PF, AC,
The authors thank the Max Planck Society and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura for funding the research. We acknowledge Prof. S. Dissanayake, Prof. P.B. Mandawala, Mr. S.A.T.G. Priyantha, and other members at the Excavations Branch of the Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka, for assistance and support of our fieldwork. We would also like to thank Mr L.V.A. De Mel, Mr. K.K. Ruwan Pramod, Mr. P.G. Gunadasa, Mr Suranga Jayasinha, Mr. K.A.S Lakmal, Mr. Tiran Ananda and Mr. J. Perera for their
Development of projectile hunting tools remains a significant tenant associated with modern humans' adaptive and migratory success. Technological innovations which accompanied the human odyssey between the now submerged ice-age shelves of Sunda and Sahul (the first major sea crossings by our species) are amongst the most decisive topics of human evolution today. With recent discoveries affirming the Indonesian archipelago's importance as a hub for these studies, technological records remain essential to reveal details of early human life across this strategic region. One such adaption, projectile technology, may appear quintessentially an early human technology, although this review shows projectile tools are poorly documented across Island South East Asia (ISEA), prior to the onset of major climatic change at the close of the last ice-age. Records of hunting and subsistence related to projectile technology, include flaked stone and osseous tools, rock art, and historical records – each reviewed here, to produce a vanguard methodological approach for identification of projectile tools in the early archaeological records of ISEA. Traceology backed by empirical data and contextualised within tool life histories, are found to be of dire need to advance the archaeological understanding of technological adaptations. Methodological advances elsewhere, outlay the latest techniques in recognising projectile tools, here adapted to the unique and globally relevant study area, spanning the extant lands and islands of Eastern Sunda, to Sahul.
The site of Goa Topogaro (Topogaro Caves) on Sulawesi Island in Eastern Indonesia yields numerous osseous and lithic artefacts in association with anatomically modern humans (AMH) from the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Sulawesi is the largest island in Wallacea and could have been located along the early AMH migration routes to Sahul that required sea crossings between the past Sunda and Sahul-continents. AMH utilized both osseous and lithic technologies use during the early stage of their migration to South Asia, Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), and Sahul, a more intensive use and wider expansion of bone-based technologies occurred after the end of the Pleistocene in ISEA and Sulawesi. Our study confirms the emergence and wide use of an variety of osseus technologies, specifically bone points that may have been used as drills, engravers, and projectiles, during the early Holocene in Sulawesi. This is in tandem with a significant shift of lithic technologies and the dramatic increase of retouched tools. Use-wear analysis of bone and lithic materials shows that some specific retouched stone tools were likely used for the production of bone implements. We suggest such a combination in the use of bone and lithic technologies for Sulawesi, and widely across ISEA, may indicate early AMH subsistence strategies and adaptations to the changing island and rainforest environments during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene.
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition is a critical period of human behavioral change that has been variously argued to pertain to the emergence of modern cognition, substantial population growth, and major dispersals of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. However, there is little consensus about when the transition occurred, the geographic patterning of its emergence, or even how it is manifested in the stone tool technology that is used to define it. Here, we examine a long sequence of lithic technological change at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, that spans the Middle and Later Stone Age and includes human occupations in each of the last five Marine Isotope Stages. In addition to the stone artifact technology, Panga ya Saidi preserves osseous and shell artifacts, enabling broader considerations of the covariation between different spheres of material culture. Several environmental proxies contextualize the artifactual record of human behavior at Panga ya Saidi. We compare technological change between the Middle and Later Stone Age with on-site paleoenvironmental manifestations of wider climatic fluctuations in the Late Pleistocene. The principal distinguishing feature of Middle from Later Stone Age technology at Panga ya Saidi is the preference for fine-grained stone, coupled with the creation of small flakes (miniaturization). Our review of the Middle to Later Stone Age transition elsewhere in eastern Africa and across the continent suggests that this broader distinction between the two periods is in fact widespread. We suggest that the Later Stone Age represents new short use-life and multicomponent ways of using stone tools, in which edge sharpness was prioritized over durability.
Non-human primates are among the most vulnerable tropical animals to extinction and ~50% of primate species are endangered. Human hunting is considered a major cause of increasingly ‘empty forests’, yet archaeological data remains under-utilised in testing this assertion over the longer-term. Zooarchaeological datasets allow investigation of human exploitation of primates and the reconstruction of extinction, extirpation, and translocation processes. We evaluate the application and limitations of data from zooarchaeological studies spanning the past 45 000 years in South and Southeast Asia in guiding primate conservation efforts. We highlight that environmental change was the primary threat to many South and Southeast Asian non-human primate populations during much of the Holocene, foreshadowing human-induced land-use and environmental change as major threats of the 21st century.
Moving into montane rainforests was a unique behavioural innovation developed by Pleistocene Homo sapiens as they expanded out of Africa and through Southeast Asia and Sahul for the first time. However, faunal sequences from these environments that shed light on past hunting practices are rare. In this paper we assess zooarchaeological evidence from Yuku and Kiowa, two sites that span that Pleistocene to Holocene boundary in the New Guinea Highlands. We present new AMS radiocarbon dates and a revision of the stratigraphic sequences for these sites, and examine millennial-scale changes to vertebrate faunal composition based on NISP, MNI, and linear morphometric data to shed light on variability in hunting practices, processes of natural cave deposition, and the local palaeoenvironment at the end of the LGM through to the Late Holocene. We show that Yuku was first occupied at least c. 17,500 years ago and that Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene hunters targeted a wide range of small-bodied and agile species from the mid-montane forest, with a particular focus on cuscus (Phalanger spp.). At Kiowa, occupied from around 12,000 years ago, a similar range of species were targeted, but with an added emphasis on specialised Dobsonia magna fruit bat hunting. We then integrate other zooarchaeological data from the wider Highlands zone to build a model of generalist-specialist hunting dynamics and examine how this more broadly contributes to our understanding of tropical foraging during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.
Abri Pataud (France) is the type site in studies focusing on the appearance of modern humans and the development of classic Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes in Europe. It contains important evidence of successful adaptation strategies of modern humans to new territories and in response to sharply changing climatic conditions that characterized Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. Despite being for decades one of the best excavated and most studied Paleolithic sites, the chronology of Abri Pataud has lacked precision and revealed large discrepancies. The chronology of the lowermost part of the sequence (Levels 14–5) was refined in 2011 with the publication of 32 new radiocarbon determinations, mainly from the Aurignacian levels. In contrast, the Gravettian levels (Levels 5–2) remained poorly dated until now. Here, we present 18 new radiocarbon dates on cut-marked animal bones from the Gravettian part of the site, which complete the dating of this important sequence. The determinations are analyzed using Bayesian statistical modeling, and the results allow us to place the start of the Gravettian at the site between ∼33,000 and 32,000 cal BP (∼29,000–28,000 BP). We discuss the succession of the Gravettian facies across the sequence (Bayacian, Noaillian, Rayssian), as well as the likely duration of each archaeological level. With a total of more than 50 radiocarbon determinations, Abri Pataud offers secure information for the appearance and development of the technocomplexes linked with early modern humans and their establishment in western Europe. Based on published genetic data, it appears that it is the Gravettian hunter-gatherers and subsequent human groups, rather than the earlier Aurignacian and pre-Aurignacian groups, that contributed to the genetic signature of later and living Europeans. Hence, elucidating the precise timing of the Gravettian appearance has broad implications in our understanding of late human evolution across Europe.
Here we conduct the first direct metric examination of two early regional manifestations of microlithic industries – the Howiesons Poort of southern Africa (c. 65–60 ka) and the Microlithic industry of South Asia (c. 38–12 ka). Inter-regional comparative analysis of microlithic industries is rare, but can contribute much to our understanding of technological systems in the past. Metric and qualitative variables were recorded on cores, debitage, and tools from Rose Cottage Cave and Umhlatuzana, South Africa, and Batadomba-lena, Sri Lanka, with the aim of conducting a first-stage technological assessment of the degree of technological homogeneity and diversity within these rich microlithic assemblages. The lithic methodology employed here uses the full range of lithic by-products, as opposed to an approach based on tool typology alone. Preliminary analyses reveal areas of significant variation in inter-regional technological strategies. These include differences in blade production and blank selection, variation in microlith typology and morphology, disparate quartz reduction processes designed to produce similar tool types, varying degrees of utilisation of bipolar technology, and the existence of distinct reduction trajectories within sites. The examination of the diversity of microlithic assemblages through the use of detailed technological attribute analyses demonstrates a useful alternative methodology for the way we examine behavioural variability, and is a first step towards a thorough assessment of the place of microliths in models of human dispersals.
Elephas maximus and Stegodon orientalis were two keystone proboscideans in southern Asia that coexisted mainly after the Middle Pleistocene in many regions. The long-term paleoecology and possible foraging competition of these two species have not been intensively investigated yet. Here, we applied stable isotope (C, O) analysis to the tooth enamel of coexisting Elephas maximus, Stegodon orientalis, and other associated mammalian species in Quzai Cave, southern China, dated to the early Late Pleistocene, to explore their paleoenvironmental context and foraging ecology. The δ13C values of Elephas maximus were widely distributed between −17.9‰ and −11.9‰ (n = 10), while Stegodon orientalis δ13C values ranged from −16.7‰ to −14.7‰ (n = 7). These results suggest that Elephas maximus was possibly a mixed feeder with a broader range of dietary resources than Stegodon orientalis, which probably browsed on a narrower range of plant resources in more densely forested landscape. A chronological comparison (from 8 Ma to recent) of published δ13C data for these two species from Asia showed that none of them were dietary specialists. However, Elephas had a more flexible foraging ecology and a stronger ability to exploit abrasive grasses than Stegodon. The niche partitioning and perceived different foraging behaviors of Stegodon and Elephas might have reduced the level of interspecific competition and allowed them to coexist during the Pleistocene. Moreover, the high-level of ecological flexibility of Elephas might have helped them to survive until the present day, while Stegodon eventually went extinct by the terminal Pleistocene ∼12 ka. An extensive comparison and evaluation of the δ13C data from fossil mammals in mainland southeast Asia during the Early to Late Pleistocene suggests that southern China was dominated by C3 vegetation throughout the Pleistocene, in contrast with the evidence of C4 biomes in neighboring Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Southern China experienced relatively stable environments during the Pleistocene, which can be attributed to the wide range of mountainous regions that acted as ecological refugia from human interference and climatic fluctuations, and allowed the preservation of high biodiversity. The isotopic data we present here provides new evidence about the ecological complexity of mainland southeast Asia and elucidates the need for more systematic research to investigate extinction models and ecological conservation in this region.
Prehistoric stone tools discovered in Southeast Asia contrast with what is found in the rest of the world: they are simple and their production techniques remained unchanged for millennia. To explain these unique characteristics, some scholars offered what is called the “bamboo hypothesis”: if SE Asian stone tools are simple it would be because they were actually used to manufacture more complex implements made of bamboo. This hypothesis relies on a series of indirect evidence, among which the fact that use-traces occurring on the stone tools result from plant processing. These traces are often interpreted as due to bamboo working although in the absence of an adapted reference collection such a precise diagnosis is impossible to make. A fundamental question remains to be addressed: is it possible to distinguish the working of bamboo from the one of other plants based on the traces they produce? To answer this, we carried out several experiments, grounded on ethnoarchaeological observations, which involved 15 tropical plant taxa, including 3 bamboo genera and conducted microscopic use-wear analysis of the experimental tools. Our results show that the use-wear created by processing mature bamboo is well-developed and can be defined through a set of criteria. Altogether they distinguish bamboo wear from the one produced by other plants, although some overlapping exists. Our results can be used as a reference to which the traces on archaeological stone tools can be compared in order to determine whether they were really used to process bamboo and to what extent.
New research in recent years has enriched our understanding of the spatio-temporal distribution of Large Cutting Tool (LCT) technology in Paleolithic China. Yet, few studies have focused on hominid social behaviors, and by analyzing LCTs from the Baise Basin in southern China, this case study aims to clarify some of these strategies for the region. Specifically, by employing two primary lines of evidence that consider both quantitative environmental variables and technological tool attributes, the results suggest that hominids preferred to adopt behavioral strategies associated with short-distance travelling and small-territory ranging. Furthermore, given the low density of stone artifacts and LCTs in all excavated sites, the somewhat homogenous landscape, and the even distribution of plant-dominated resources throughout the basin, site occupation and/or settlement was likely temporary in nature. Overall, the use of ecological simulations and analogous approaches in this study provides a series of new data for understanding lifeways of early humans in the humid subtropical forests of South China, and equally important, promote new research avenues for understanding the dynamics of the Chinese Paleolithic.
The bone point (SAM 42160) from >60 ka deposits at Klasies River Main Site, South Africa, is reassessed. We clarify the stratigraphic integrity of SAM 42160 and confirm its Middle Stone Age provenience. We find evidence that indicates the point was hafted and partially coated in an adhesive substance. Internal fractures are consistent with stresses occasioned by high-velocity, longitudinal impact. SAM 42160, like its roughly contemporaneous counterpart, farther north at Sibudu Cave, likely functioned as a hafted arrowhead. We highlight a growing body of evidence for bow hunting at this early period and explore bow-and-arrow technology might imply about the cognition of people in the Middle Stone Age who were able to conceive, construct and use it.