Late Pleistocene humans in Sri Lanka used plant resources: A phytolith record from Fahien rock shelter

Abstract

Little is known of the human use of rainforest plant resources of prehistoric Sri Lanka due to the lack of preservation of organic material and the effects of various destructive taphonomic processes. Phytoliths recovered from a AMS radiocarbon and OSL dated sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter indicate interactions of anatomically modern humans with the lowland rainforests of south-western Sri Lanka from 44,952–47,854 cal. BP to 11,991–12,402 cal. BP. During this period, the Rock Shelter occupants extracted their livelihood from a number of wild plants including bananas, rice, breadfruits, durians, canarium and species of palm and bamboo. These taxa are associated with present-day disturbed lowland rainforests. Gathering and processing of plant resources by existing modern rainforest foragers cannot directly be compared with the subsistence activities of the Late Pleistocene Rock Shelter occupants.