INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By Christopher Carbone, Fox NewsAccording to a new paper published in PLUS One, microliths seen in the Fa Hien cave in the tropical
rainforests of Sri Lanka date to 45,000 years ago.Their existence at this location suggests a range of &more diverse ecological contexts&
for their use by Homo sapiens, researchers believe.The island of Sri Lanka has been seen as a vital area for examining how hunter-gatherers
adapted in prehistoric times.
Discovering these types of artifacts in this setting is significant, according to scientists, because the
tools have been most typically linked to hunting medium to large animals in grassland areas.&Interestingly, our evidence also shows that
stone tool technology changed little over the long span of human occupation, from 48,000 to 4,000 years ago,& said Andrea Picin, of the Max
Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and co-author of the study, in a statement.
Researchers believe this is evidence that the
technological adaptation practiced by these early rainforest inhabitants was very successful over the course of thousands of years.&While we
suspect that these small stone tools were used as part of projectile technologies, as we have also found for bone tools at the same site,
residue analysis and impact fracture analysis is ongoing,& explained Michael Petraglia, co-corresponding author of the paper.
&Whatever the
results, these miniaturized stone tools place Sri Lanka in a central position in terms of discussing technological sophistication among our
We have essentially uncovered the ‘Upper Palaeolithic& of the rainforest,& Petraglia added
