Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years
Abstract The island of Sri Lanka was part of the South Asian mainland for the majority of the past 115,000 years, and connected most recently during the Last Glacial Maximum via the now submerged Palk Strait. The degree to which rising sea levels shaped past human adaptations from the Pleistocene an...
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77504-5 |
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| author | Noel Amano Patrick Faulkner Oshan Wedage Chris Clarkson Dambara Amila Miren del Val Dovydas Jurkenas Alexander Kapukotuwa Gloria I. López Josep Pares M. M. Pathmalal Tam Smith Martin Wright Patrick Roberts Michael Petraglia Nicole Boivin |
| author_facet | Noel Amano Patrick Faulkner Oshan Wedage Chris Clarkson Dambara Amila Miren del Val Dovydas Jurkenas Alexander Kapukotuwa Gloria I. López Josep Pares M. M. Pathmalal Tam Smith Martin Wright Patrick Roberts Michael Petraglia Nicole Boivin |
| author_sort | Noel Amano |
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| description | Abstract The island of Sri Lanka was part of the South Asian mainland for the majority of the past 115,000 years, and connected most recently during the Last Glacial Maximum via the now submerged Palk Strait. The degree to which rising sea levels shaped past human adaptations from the Pleistocene and into the mid to late Holocene in Sri Lanka has remained unclear, in part because the earliest reliable records of human occupation come from the island’s interior, where cave sites have revealed occupation of tropical forest ecosystems extending back to 48 thousand years (ka). The island’s earliest known open-air sites are all much younger in date, with ages beginning at 15 ka and extending across the Holocene. Here we report the earliest well-dated open-air coastal site in Sri Lanka, Pathirajawela, which records human occupation back to ca. 25,000 years ago. We show that humans at Pathirajawela consistently adapted to changing ecosystems linked to sea level transgression and coastal evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum into the Holocene. The presence of anthropogenic shell midden deposits at the site from ca. 4.8 ka, focused almost exclusively on a single taxon, indicates intensification of estuarine resource exploitation, as humans responded to opportunities presented by the formation of new coastal ecosystems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f2f82ef1435a4e18bba8da3c3b4739b6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-f2f82ef1435a4e18bba8da3c3b4739b62025-08-20T02:50:04ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-11-0114111610.1038/s41598-024-77504-5Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 yearsNoel Amano0Patrick Faulkner1Oshan Wedage2Chris Clarkson3Dambara Amila4Miren del Val5Dovydas Jurkenas6Alexander Kapukotuwa7Gloria I. López8Josep Pares9M. M. Pathmalal10Tam Smith11Martin Wright12Patrick Roberts13Michael Petraglia14Nicole Boivin15Max Planck Institute of GeoanthropologySchool of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of SydneyDepartment of History and Archaeology, University of Sri JayewardenepuraSchool of Social Sciences, University of QueenslandDepartment of History and Archaeology, University of Sri JayewardenepuraSpanish National Research Center for Human Evolution (CENIEH)Max Planck Institute of GeoanthropologyDepartment of History and Archaeology, University of Sri JayewardenepuraSpanish National Research Center for Human Evolution (CENIEH)Spanish National Research Center for Human Evolution (CENIEH)Department of Zoology, University of Sri JayewardenepuraSchool of Social Sciences, University of QueenslandSchool of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of SydneyMax Planck Institute of GeoanthropologySchool of Social Sciences, University of QueenslandMax Planck Institute of GeoanthropologyAbstract The island of Sri Lanka was part of the South Asian mainland for the majority of the past 115,000 years, and connected most recently during the Last Glacial Maximum via the now submerged Palk Strait. The degree to which rising sea levels shaped past human adaptations from the Pleistocene and into the mid to late Holocene in Sri Lanka has remained unclear, in part because the earliest reliable records of human occupation come from the island’s interior, where cave sites have revealed occupation of tropical forest ecosystems extending back to 48 thousand years (ka). The island’s earliest known open-air sites are all much younger in date, with ages beginning at 15 ka and extending across the Holocene. Here we report the earliest well-dated open-air coastal site in Sri Lanka, Pathirajawela, which records human occupation back to ca. 25,000 years ago. We show that humans at Pathirajawela consistently adapted to changing ecosystems linked to sea level transgression and coastal evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum into the Holocene. The presence of anthropogenic shell midden deposits at the site from ca. 4.8 ka, focused almost exclusively on a single taxon, indicates intensification of estuarine resource exploitation, as humans responded to opportunities presented by the formation of new coastal ecosystems.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77504-5 |
| spellingShingle | Noel Amano Patrick Faulkner Oshan Wedage Chris Clarkson Dambara Amila Miren del Val Dovydas Jurkenas Alexander Kapukotuwa Gloria I. López Josep Pares M. M. Pathmalal Tam Smith Martin Wright Patrick Roberts Michael Petraglia Nicole Boivin Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years Scientific Reports |
| title | Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years |
| title_full | Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years |
| title_fullStr | Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years |
| title_short | Early Sri Lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca. 25,000 years |
| title_sort | early sri lankan coastal site tracks technological change and estuarine resource exploitation over the last ca 25 000 years |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77504-5 |
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