Book contents
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Part I The Americas
- Part II Europe
- Part III Africa
- Part IV Asia
- 16 The Monkey in Mesopotamia during the Third Millennium BCE
- 17 The Great Monkey King
- 18 The Prehistoric Nonhuman Primate Subfossil Remains at Sigiriya Potana Cave, Sri Lanka
- 19 Monkey Hunting in Early to Mid-Holocene Eastern Java (Indonesia)
- 20 Dispersion, Speciation, Evolution, and Coexistence of East Asian Catarrhine Primates and Humans in Yunnan, China
- 21 Fossil and Archaeological Remain Records of Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata)
- Index
- References
18 - The Prehistoric Nonhuman Primate Subfossil Remains at Sigiriya Potana Cave, Sri Lanka
from Part IV - Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2022
Book contents
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- World Archaeoprimatology
- Part I The Americas
- Part II Europe
- Part III Africa
- Part IV Asia
- 16 The Monkey in Mesopotamia during the Third Millennium BCE
- 17 The Great Monkey King
- 18 The Prehistoric Nonhuman Primate Subfossil Remains at Sigiriya Potana Cave, Sri Lanka
- 19 Monkey Hunting in Early to Mid-Holocene Eastern Java (Indonesia)
- 20 Dispersion, Speciation, Evolution, and Coexistence of East Asian Catarrhine Primates and Humans in Yunnan, China
- 21 Fossil and Archaeological Remain Records of Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata)
- Index
- References
Summary
Nonhuman primate subfossils have been excavated from 20 prehistoric (37,000– 2,940 BP) cave sites across Sri Lanka. These nonhuman primates were sources of food for the inhabitants. One of these sites, the Sigiriya Potana cave situated in the intermediate climatic zone in north central Sri Lanka, belongs to a complex of 12 caves located in the Central Province at 70 m above sea level. An excavation was conducted between 1990 and 1991 by the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, Colombo. The cave deposits were dated at ca. 6000 BP and the calibrated age ranges from cumulative probability (one sigma) 3913–3727 BCE (UA 5685) and 3913–3709 BCE (UA5686) using carbon-14 dating techniques. These nonhuman primate subfossils were found along with two complete human skeletons. These nonhuman primates are suspected to be the equivalents of the three diurnal species currently present in the area; namely two langur species (Semnopithcus vetulus, Semnopithecus priam thersites) and a macaque (Macaca sinica). The total number of nonhuman primate subfossils found were 23 mandible fragments with teeth and 6 maxillary fragments with teeth. The postcranial material was badly fragmented, rendering impossible any meaningful analyses. Some of this material was burnt, and it is presumed that the human inhabitants consumed these nonhuman primates during their occupation of the cave. Odontometrical comparison of the dental morphology of these subfossil samples with those of the three extant nonhuman primate species confirmed that these are the same species. Consistent with other sites in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in South Asia during the Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene (~12,000 to 3000 BP) nonhuman primates are considered to have been an important food resource.
Keywords:
Nonhuman primate subfossils, Prehistoric cave site, ca. 6000 BP, Macaca sinica, Semnopithecus priam thersites, S. vetulus
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- World ArchaeoprimatologyInterconnections of Humans and Nonhuman Primates in the Past, pp. 456 - 473Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Adikari, G. (1994a). Approach to the prehistory of the Sigiriya-Potana region cave complex. In Bandaranayake, Senake, & Mogren, Mats, eds., Further Studies in the Settlement Archaeology of the Sigiriya-Dambulla Region, Colombo: Post-graduate Institute of Archaeological Research, 45–51.Google Scholar
Adikari, G. (1994b). Excavations at the Sigiriya-Potana cave complex: a preliminary account. In Bandaranayake, Senake, & Mogren, Mats, eds., Further Studies in the Settlement Archaeology of the Sigiriya-Dambulla Region, Colombo: Post-graduate Institute of Archaeological Research, 65–68.Google Scholar
Adikari, G. (1998). Aspects of the prehistory of Sigiriya- Dambulla region. Unpublished MPhil thesis, University of Kelaniya.Google Scholar
Adikari, G. (2010). A preliminary excavation report submitted to the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology Report. Colombo.Google Scholar
Bin Haji Taha, A. (1981). The re-excavation of the rockshelter of Gua Cha, Ulu Kelantan, West Malaysia. Unpublished Master’s thesis. The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Campbell-Smith, G., Simanjorang, H. V. P., Leader-Williams, N., & Linkie, M. (2010). Local attitudes and perceptions toward crop-raiding by orangutans (Pongo abelii) and other nonhuman NHP in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. American Journal of Primatology, 72, 866–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandimal, K. M., Yasawardene, S. G., & Adikari, G. (2009) The determination of age, sex and stature of prehistoric human skeletal remains excavated from Sigiriya Potana in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science Proceeding of the 65th Annual Sessions. Part I (Abstract, 416/D).Google Scholar
Clarkson, C., Petraglia, M., Korisettar, R., et al. (2008). The oldest and longest sequence in India: 35,000 years of modern human occupation and change at the Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter. Antiquity, 83, 326–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1940). The Stone Age and cave men of Ceylon. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon), 34(92), 351–373.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1943). Some aspect of the prehistory of Ceylon, pt.1. Spolia Zeylanica, 23(2), 93–115.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1958). Administration Report of the Director of National Museums for 1957, Sri Lanka Government.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. (1971). Stone implements from a Balangoda Culture site in Ceylon: Bellan-bandi Palassa. Ancient Ceylon, 1, 47–89.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U., & Kennedy, K. A. (1972). Bellan Bandi Pallassa 1970: A Mesolithic burial site in Ceylon. Ancient Ceylon, 2, 18–47.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. (1992). The Prehistory of Sri Lanka: An Ecological Perspective (2nd ed.). Colombo: Department of Archaeological Survey.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. (2007). The prehistory and protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka. In Prematilleke, P. L., Bandaranayake, S., Deraniyagala, S. U., & Siva, R., eds., The Art and Archaeology in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Central Cultural Fund, 1, 1–96.Google Scholar
Eragama, S. (2017). Subsistence pattern of the Prehistoric man from Kuragala Rockshelter in Sri Lanka, Unpublished MA thesis, University of Kelaniya.Google Scholar
Gunarathna, H. S. (1971). Beli-lena Athula: another Stone Age habitation in Ceylon. Spolia Zeylanica 32(1), 4.Google Scholar
Hathurusinghe, S. (2019). Archaeology of Kelani River Valley in Sri Lanka. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Kelaniya.Google Scholar
Higham, C. (2013). Hunter-gatherers in Southeast Asia: From prehistory to the present, Human Biology, 85 (1–3), 21–44.Google Scholar
Kourampas, N, Simpson, I, Perera, H. N., Deraniyagala, S. U., & Wijeyapala, W. H. (2009). Rockshelter sedimentation in a dynamic tropical landscape: Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene archaeological deposits in Kitulgala Beli-lena, Southwestern Sri Lanka, Geoarchaeology, 24(6), 677–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kourampas, N., Simpson, I., Diaz, A. P., Perera, N., & Deraniyagala, S. (2012). Geoarchaelogical reconnaissance rockshelter and tool bearing sediments of the Iranmadu Formation Rock shelter. Ancient Ceylon, 23, 1–25.Google Scholar
Kulatilake, S. (2016). The peopling of Sri Lanka from prehistoric to historic times: Biological and archaeological evidence. In Robbins Schug, G., & Walimbe, S. R. (eds.), A Companion to South Asia in the Past, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 426–436.Google Scholar
Langley, MC, Amano, N, Wedage, O, et al. (2020). Bows and arrows and complex symbolic displays 48,000 years ago in the South Asian tropics. Science Advances, 6, eaba3831Google Scholar
Nahallage, C. A. D. (2015). Craniometric analysis of two NHP species from Sri Lanka: Macaca sinica and Thrachypithecus vetulus. Man and Environment XL(1), 27–32.Google Scholar
Nahallage, C. A. D., & Huffman, M. A. (2013). Macaque-human interactions in past and present-day Sri Lanka. In Radhakrishna, S., Huffman, M. A., & Sinha, A. The Macaque Connection: Cooperation and conflict between humans and macaques. New York: Springer, 135–148.Google Scholar
Nahallage, C. A. D., Huffman, M. A., Kuruppu, N., & Weerasingha, T. (2008). Diurnal primates in Sri Lanka and people’s perception of them. Primate Conservation, 23(1), 83–87.Google Scholar
Nahallage, C. A. D., Kanthilatha, N., Adikari, G., & Huffman, M. A. (2010) Preliminary Report of nonhuman primate bones discovered at the prehistoric Sigiriya Potana cave site in Sri Lanka, Primate Research, 96, 247–248.Google Scholar
Perera, H. N. (2010). Prehistoric Sri Lanka: Late Pleistocene Rockshelters and an Open Air Site. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Perera, N., Kaurampas, N., Simpson, I. A., et al. (2011). People of the ancient rainforest: Late Pleistocene foragers at the Batadomba-lena rockshelter, Sri Lanka. Journal of Human Evolution, 61(3), 254–269.Google Scholar
Perera, N., Roberts, P., & Petraglia, M. (2015). Bone technology in South Asia from Late Pleistocene rock shelter deposits in Sri Lanka. In Langley, M. C., ed., Osseous Projectile Weaponry: Towards an Understanding of Pleistocene Cultural Variability. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Premathilake, R., & Gunatilaka, A. (2013). Chronological framework of Asian southwest monsoon events and variations over the past 24,000 years in Sri Lanka and regional correlations. Journal of the National Science Foundation Sri Lanka, 41(3), 219–228.Google Scholar
Ranasinghe, R., & Adikari, G. (2012). Importance of the analysis of animal bones for archaeological interpretation of prehistoric human subsistence patterns. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Humanities and Social Sciences. (November-18-19 2012), Nugegoda: University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 100.Google Scholar
Roberts, P., & Petraglia, M. (2015). Pleistocene rainforests: barriers or attractive environments for early human foragers? World Archaeology, 47(5), 718–739.Google Scholar
Roberts, P., Boivin, N., & Petraglia, M. (2015a). The Sri Lanka in “Microlithic” tradition c. 38,000 to 3,000 years ago: Tropical technologies and adaptations of Homo sapiens at the southern edge of Asia. Journal of World Prehistory, 28(2), 69–112.Google Scholar
Roberts, P., Perera, N., Oshan Wedage, O., et al. (2015b). Direct evidence for human reliance on rainforest resources in late Pleistocene Sri Lanka. Science, 347(6227), 1246–1249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, P., Perera, N., Wedage, O., et al. (2017). Fruits of the forest: Human stable isotope ecology and rainforest adaptations in Late Pleistocene and Holocene (~36 to 3 ka) Sri Lanka. Journal of Human Evolution, 106, 102–118.Google Scholar
Riley, E. P., & Priston, N. E. (2010). Macaques in farms and folklore: Exploring the human-nonhuman primate interface in Sulawesi, Indonesia. American Journal of Primatology, 72, 848–854.Google Scholar
Somadeva, R., Wanninayaka, A., & Devage, D. (2018). Hunters in transition: Advanced hunter-gatherers of the Mid/ Late Holocene, Sri Lanka. Man and Environment, XLIII (1), 23–38.Google Scholar
Southwick, C., & Cadigan, F. C. Jr. (1972). Population studies of Malaysian primates. Primates, 13(1), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swindler, D. R. (2002). Primate Dentition. An Introduction to the Teeth of Non-human Primates. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Van Vlack, H. G. (2014). Forager subsistence regimes in the Thai-Malay Peninsula: An environmental archaeological case study of Khao Toh Chong rockshelter, Krabi. Unpublished Master’s thesis, San José State University.Google Scholar
Wedage, O., Amano, N., Langley, M. C., et al. (2019). Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago. Nature Communications 10(739), 1234567890.Google Scholar
Wijeyapala, W. H. (1997). New light on the prehistory of Sri Lanka in the context of recent investigations of cave sites. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Peradeniya.Google Scholar
- 2
- Cited by