Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/9988
2024-03-28T23:34:57ZLate Pleistocene humans in Sri Lanka used plant resources: A phytolith record from Fahien rock shelter
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/20057
Late Pleistocene humans in Sri Lanka used plant resources: A phytolith record from Fahien rock shelter
Premathilake, R.; Hunt, C.O.
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.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZImplications of phytolith records from an Early Historicmegalithic burial site at Porunthal in Southern India
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/20056
Implications of phytolith records from an Early Historicmegalithic burial site at Porunthal in Southern India
Premathilake, R.; Anupama, K.; Prasad, S.; Orukaimani, G.; Yathees Kumar, V.P.
Collateral phytolith records from four megalith cist burials uncovered at Porunthal on the foot hills of the Western
Ghats, Tamil Nadu, are presented. This has contributed to the current knowledge of the landscape in association
with the flora and megalith culture that prevailed in South India during the Early Historic time at 540–
410 cal BCE. Evidence shows that Early Historic megalith people engaged less in pastoral activities on the open
landscape, dominated by herbs e.g., Cyperaceae and Poaceae, and also by Palmae species in semi-arid environment.
The presence of strong mode of settled-paddy and millet farming cultures, cereal-processing activities
and grazing in association with the burial practices were significant as early as 6th century BCE. Seeds, leaves
and sheath from domesticated rice, millet and some materials fromsedges and Palmae specieswere deliberately
deposited indicating variable burial rituals in each grave. Burial tradition indicates that Iron Age and EarlyHistoric
megalithic people of southern India may have carried out burial rituals with more rice than millets. Evidence for
the early appearance of Brahmi writing as part of the ‘complex’ megalith social life marks the beginning of Early
Historic Period, previously not reported in southern Asia. Phytolith evidence also provides new insight into the
transformation of urban-fringe landscapes with possible irrigated agriculture in those broad ecological and cultural
contexts.
2017-01-01T00:00:00ZEarliest Musa banana from the late Quaternary sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter in Sri Lanka
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/20055
Earliest Musa banana from the late Quaternary sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter in Sri Lanka
Premathilake, R.; Hunt, C.O.
The domestication and time of arrival of bananas in South Asia and Africa are unresolved issues. We
provide banana seed and leaf phytolith evidence from the archaeological sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter,
south-west Sri Lanka, to help understand the geographical con®guration of hybridization, dispersal, cultural
association and chronology of banana domestication. Phytolith evidence indicates that Musa accuminata
subspecies and M. balbisiana existed in the south-western lowland rainforest of Sri Lanka from 44952±47854 to
3845±3985 cal a BP. Rock Shelter occupants exploited those taxa for starchy food. Edible diploid bananas may
have been introduced from Indonesia or Papua New Guinea before 5994±6194 cal a BP. From this time onwards,
phytoliths morphologically identical to those from triploid banana cultivars appeared in the lowland rainforest of
Sri Lanka. This precocity appears unique to Sri Lanka. Dispersal of these triploids to the east coast of Africa may
have followed maritime trade networks in the Indian Ocean from the ®rst half of the sixth millennium BP.
Northward dispersal, e.g. to urban Harappan sites, occurred in the middle of the ®fth millennium BP. This
discovery shows the interconnection of prehistoric cultures and their engagement with the management of starchy
staples in the lowland rainforests of Sri Lanka. Copyright # 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZSri Lanka’s Earliest Wild Musa Bananas?
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/20054
Sri Lanka’s Earliest Wild Musa Bananas?
Premathilake, R.; Hunt, C.O.
In spite of their importance as a crop today, records of the use of wild banana and the antecedents of the modern domesticated bananas are relatively obscure. Banana dispersal pattern from their native range (e.g. Island South East Asia and New Guinea) is also poorly known. Excavation at Fahien Rockshelter in South Western Sri Lanka yielded phytolith sequence dating from 48,354 to 3900 cal BP. Phytolith evidence suggests that Rockshelter occupants used wild banana (Musa. acuminata and M. balbisiana) through the late Pleistocene to early Holocene, i.e. 8000 cal BP. After this age, occupants significantly decreased the use of wild bananas.
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z