Sri Lanka Department of Archaeology, Excavation Branch, Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka.
J Hum Evol. 2011 Sep;61(3):254-69. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.04.001. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
Batadomba-lena, a rockshelter in the rainforest of southwestern Sri Lanka, has yielded some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in South Asia. H. sapiens foragers were present at Batadomba-lena from ca. 36,000 cal BP to the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene. Human occupation was sporadic before the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Batadomba-lena's Late Pleistocene inhabitants foraged for a broad spectrum of plant and mainly arboreal animal resources (monkeys, squirrels and abundant rainforest snails), derived from a landscape that retained equatorial rainforest cover through periods of pronounced regional aridity during the LGM. Juxtaposed hearths, palaeofloors with habitation debris, postholes, excavated pits, and animal and plant remains, including abundant Canarium nutshells, reflect intensive habitation of the rockshelter in times of monsoon intensification and biome reorganisation after ca. 16,000 cal BP. This period corresponds with further broadening of the economic spectrum, evidenced though increased contribution of squirrels, freshwater snails and Canarium nuts in the diet of the rockshelter occupants. Microliths are more abundant and morphologically diverse in the earliest, pre-LGM layer and decline markedly during intensified rockshelter use on the wane of the LGM. We propose that changing toolkits and subsistence base reflect changing foraging practices, from shorter-lived visits of highly mobile foraging bands in the period before the LGM, to intensified use of Batadomba-lena and intense foraging for diverse resources around the site during and, especially, following the LGM. Traces of ochre, marine shell beads and other objects from an 80 km-distant shore, and, possibly burials reflect symbolic practices from the outset of human presence at the rockshelter. Evidence for differentiated use of space (individual hearths, possible habitation structures) is present in LGM and terminal Pleistocene layers. The record of Batadomba-lena demonstrates that Late Pleistocene pathways to (aspects of) behavioural 'modernity' (composite tools, practice of symbolism and ritual, broad spectrum economy) were diverse and ecologically contingent.
巴塔多邦拉纳是斯里兰卡西南部雨林中的一个岩棚，这里出土了一些南亚最早的智人证据。约公元前 36000 年至末次冰期和全新世，智人采集者曾在巴塔多邦拉纳活动。在全球末次冰期最盛期之前，人类的活动是零星的。巴塔多邦拉纳的晚更新世居民以广泛的植物和主要是树栖动物资源（猴子、松鼠和丰富的雨林蜗牛）为食，这些资源来自一个景观，在末次冰期期间，该景观在区域干旱显著增加的时期保持了赤道雨林的覆盖。相邻的火塘、有居住遗迹的古地面、柱洞、挖掘坑以及动植物遗迹，包括丰富的卡纳姆坚果壳，反映了在季风增强和大约 16000 年前的生物群落重组之后，该岩棚曾被密集居住。这一时期与经济谱的进一步扩大相对应，证据是岩棚居住者的饮食中松鼠、淡水蜗牛和卡纳姆坚果的贡献增加。微石器在最早的、末次冰期前的地层中更为丰富，形态也更为多样，而在末次冰期最盛期时，它们在岩棚中的使用明显减少。我们提出，不断变化的工具套件和生计基础反映了觅食行为的变化，从末次冰期前时期中高度流动的觅食群体的短期访问，到末次冰期期间和之后，特别是在末次冰期期间，巴塔多邦拉纳的使用加剧，以及对各种资源的密集觅食。距离该遗址 80 公里远的海岸上的赭石、海洋贝壳珠和其他物品的痕迹，以及可能的埋葬，反映了人类从一开始就在该岩棚中存在的象征行为。在末次冰期和末次冰期末期的地层中，存在空间（单个火塘、可能的居住结构）的差异化使用的证据。巴塔多邦拉纳的记录表明，晚更新世通向（行为“现代性”的某些方面）的途径是多样的，并且受到生态条件的制约，包括复合工具的使用、象征主义和仪式的实践、广谱经济。
