Abstract:
Sri Lanka, an island off the tip of the Southeast of the Indian subcontinent processes the earliest skeletal evidence
of anatomically modern Homo sapiens (37,000 B.P.) and the best human skeletal record sequence in the South Asian region. Adding
another to the list, the skeletal remains, which belong to Mesolithic culture were found at Pallemalala shell midden in Southern Sri Lanka
during scientific archaeological exploration by Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya. Sri Lanka. The aim of the
study was to determine the minimum number of human individuals, age, sex, and pathological conditions related to the ancient Pallemalala
commiunity. For the primary analysis, 426 bone fragments were available. Out of those, 233 bones were identified as human bones
which represent 7 minimum number of individuals. The rest of the collection comprises some animal bones and shell species. The
community was predominated by the female population. The identified age categories were around 20 years, between 35-45 years, and
over 45 years. The encountered pathological lesions were bone thickening, alveolar resorption, dental abscesses, dental caries, antemorterm
tooth loss, calculus deposits and brown colour stains on teeth. Regarding the dietary pattern, it was evident that their diet may have
consisted of coarse foodstuffs with an extremely basic dietary chemistry.
