Upper pleistocene fossil hominids from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Between 1978 and 1983 hominid skeletal remains were collected from the cave sites of Batadomba lena and Beli lena Kitulgala in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). These are the most ancient specimens of anatomically modern Homo sapiens found thus far in South Asia, radiocarbon dates placing them in the Upper Pleistocene. Morphometric analysis of the remains of some 38 individuals from the two sites indicates that these populations were characterized by medium stature, moderate to pronounced cranial and postcranial robusticity, medium-size permanent tooth crown measurements, prognathic alveolar facial proportions, and low incidence of osseous and dental pathological conditions. Comparisons of these ancient Sri Lankans with other prehistoric skeletal series from South Asia and elsewhere support the hypothesis that muscular-skeletal robusticity was a significant physical adaptation of earlier hunting-foraging populations. A trend towards reduction of sexual dimorphism and development of more gracile body form and smaller teeth appears to have accelerated with the socioeconomic transition to food-production strategies involving agriculture and pastoralism and refinement of technologies for food procurement and preparation, as documented by morphometric studies of later prehistoric inhabitants of South Asia.

Ethnic populations of India as seen from an evolutionary perspective

“…The date of entry of modern humans into India remains uncertain. However, modern human remains dating back to the late Pleistocene (55000-25000 years before present, ybp) have been found (Kennedy et al 1987) and by the middle paleolithic period (50,000-20,000 ybp), humans appear to have spread to many parts of India (Misra 1992(Misra , 2001). We have recently provided molecular genetic evidence that a major population expansion of modern humans took place within India.…”

The biogeography and ecology of Sri Lankan mammals point to conservation priorities

“…Genetic and archaeological evidence from Africa and Asia support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia about 60 -50 Kya (Mellars et al, 2013), as well as multiple exits, varying terrestrial routes, a sub-divided African source population and a degree of interbreeding with archaic varieties of Homo (Boivin et al, 2013). The most ancient remains of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia have been found in cave deposits of the Upper Pleistocene in Sri Lanka (Kennedy et al, 1987). These foragers from 20 Kya, at the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, exploited semiopen rainforest and forest edge products and influenced Wolfgang P. J. Dittus these habitats (Roberts et al, 2015).…”

The Uninvited Skeleton at the Archaeological Table: The Crisis of Paleoanthropology in South Asia in the Twenty-first Century

“…The discovery in 1982 of an anatomically archaic Homo sapiens fossil in the Narmada Valley in central India is associated with late middle Pleistocene faunal remains and tools of the Acheulian tradition Misra et al 1990;Sonakia 1984). Anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeletons dating to 34,000 years ago in microlitherous cave sites in Sri Lanka provide a record of human evolution in South Asia that is contemporary with the CroMagnon people of Europe (Deraniyagala 1992;Kennedy et al 1987;Kennedy and Zahorsky 1997). And if the dates for chopper tools collected in the northwestern sector of Pakistan are confirmed, then the earliest settlement of the subcontinent by hominids took place as early as 2.2 million years ago (Dennell 1998).…”