SRI LANKAN HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

LECTURE 01
INTRODUCTION

Prof. Samitha Manawadu

10th December 2015

PREHISTORY:
From the Inception to the beginning of History;
Human habitation and covers the
Stone Age:
Palaeolithic; (700,000 BP to 35,000 BP);
Mesolithic; (35,000 BP to 5000 BP);
Neolithic; (5000 BP to 3000 BP);

Iron Age
Bronze age(3000 BP to 1800 BP); and,
Iron Age; (1800 BP to ..).

PROTO-HISTORY:
Period of Transiting: from Prehistory to the Early History
HISTORY:
From the Inception of Keeping Records
Legendary History;
Physical History

Paleolithic (700,000 BP to 35,000 BP);

Iranamadu findings indirectly indicate existence of Paleolithic

people in Sri Lanka as early as 300,000 BP;

There is definite evidence of settlements by Prehistoric people

in Sri Lanka by about 125,000 BP;

These people made tools of Quartz and Chert which are

assignable to the Middle Paleolithic Period.

Mesolithic:
Island had been colonized by Balangoda Man around 34,000 BP;
A group of Mesolithic Hunter Gatherers, who lived in caves;
Fa Hien Cave (Bulathsinhala) has earliest evidence (at c.
34,000 BP) of anatomically modern humans in South Asia;

Batadomba-lena (Kuruwita) and the Fa-Hien cave brought many

artifacts to indicate them being the first modern inhabitants of
the island;

Beli-lena (Kuruwita) had salt brought in from the coast earlier

than 27,000 BP;.
Minute granite tools of about 4 centimeters in length;
Earthenware and remnants of charred timber;

Clay burial pots date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic people
(8000 years BP) have been discovered during excavations around
a cave at Varana Raja Maha Vihara and & in Kalatuwawa area.

Mesolithic (cont) (35,000 BP to 5000 BP);

It is guessed that Hunter Gatherer People known as the WanniyalaAetto or Veddas, in Central, Uva and North-East are descendants
of Balangoda people.

Skeletal remains of dogs from Nilgala cave and from Bellanbandi

Palassa, dating from the Mesolithic era (4500 BC), suggesting
Balangoda People had kept domestic dogs for driving game.

They may have domesticated Jungle Fowl; Pig; Water Buffalos

and some form of cattle;

It is guessed that the Balangoda Man responsible for creating

Horton Plains, by burning the trees in order to catch game;

However, evidence from the plains suggests the incipient

management of Oats and Barley by about 15,000 BC

Mesolithic-Iron age transition:

Transition from Mesolithic to Iron Age is scanty;
Human skeleton from Godawaya in Hambantota, dated back to
3000 - 5000 BC was with tools of animal-bone and stone;

Evidence from Horton Plains indicates existence of agriculture by

8000 BC, with herding of Bos and cultivation of oats and barley.

Findings from Dorawaka-kanda caves near Kegalle indicate use

of pottery, stone stools, and cereal cultivation in 4300 BC;

Findings from Mantai dated to about 1800 BC, indicate knowledge

of copper working;

Cinnamon, native to Sri Lanka, was in use in Ancient Egypt in

about 1500 BC, suggesting there were trading links with the
island.

It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island (James

Emerson Tennant) identified it with Galle).

Early Iron age (1800 900 BP):

Large settlement prior to 900 BC found in Anuradhapura with signs of
an Iron Age culture;
Original settlement about 15 hectares, later expanded to 50 ha, to
a 'town;
Similar site discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya;

As per Chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, island was inhabited

by tribes of Yakkas (demons), Nagas (cobras) and devas (gods).
May be totemist Iron Age aborigines.

Pottery dating back to 600 BC bearing Brahmi Scripts and nonBrahmi Scripts discovered from Anuradhapura:
Contact with Semitic reading, trading scripts from West Asia;

New forms of pottery along with writing; with other artifacts such as
red glass beads, indicate an invasion from North India;

Brahmi writing, Indo-Aryan Prakrit and identical to Asokan script;

none appears to be in Dravidian corroborating that Indo-Aryan
was pre-dominant from at least as early as 500 BC in Sri Lanka.

PREHISTORIC TIME LINE OF SRI LANKA:

770,000 BC
Fire Used in China by Peking Man;
700,000 BC
Humans in Sri Lanka, probable unconfirmed;
200,000 BC
Beginning of Middle Palaeolithic Period;
Lower Palaeolithic predates Homo sapiens, beginning with Homo Habilis
(earliest true man) and the earliest use of stone tools.
Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the
Middle Palaeolithic;
During the Middle Palaeolithic, humans developed language, music,
early art, as well as systematic burial of the dead;

120,000 BP

Modern Homo sapiens appears in Africa;

Oldest human's remains/stone tools recovered in Pathirajawela,

Ambalantota;

20,000 years before the Niandathal inhabited the earth;

Estimated Sri Lankan population density 0.8-1.5/Sq Km in dry zone and

0.1 in wet zone;

Lived in groups of 1-2 families, due to scarcity of food;

They made tools of quartz (and a few on chert) which are assignable to a
Middle Palaeolithic complex.

Patirajawela, flake & stone tool industry of 125,000 to 75,000 BC.

80,000 BC

Found remains of animals such as hippopotamus with six incisor

teeth, a rhinoceros, and a lion from excavations in Rathnapura
District;

Along with animal remains, stone artefacts comprising, typically,

large choppers and flakes of quartz and chert, have been found.

However, apart from a human calotte (skullcap) from a gem pit near
Ellawala, no human remains have been discovered yet from the
Ratnapura.;

2nd oldest human found in Lanka, Bundala;

These people made tools of quartz (and a few on chert);

Apart from such tools, no other remains had survived the

ravages of time and tropical weathering;

30,500 BC
Fa-Hien Cave, 3rd oldest Lankan human proves;

Female body-remains found in Yatagampitiya near

BulathSinhala;

Proved the consumption of rice, kurahan, and salt;

Archaeologists named her Kalu-Menika;

Proof of Lankans in agriculture 20,000 years ahead of the world;

The first anatomically modern human found in South Asia;

Pahiyangala is also the largest natural cave in South Asia. Over

150 feet in height, 282 feet long, and can accommodate over
3000 humans;

In 600 AD, visiting Chinese monk Fa-Hien lived here for

sometime.

28,500 BC
Batadobma-lena (Kuruwita), Belilena and Bellanbendi Palassa
subjected to detailed analysis;

Identified remains of anatomically modern prehistoric humans, referred

to as Balangoda Man;
Males 174 cm and females 166 cm tall; Taller than present-day Sri
Lankans;
Characterised by robust bones; thick skull-bones; prominent browridges, depressed noses, heavy jaws and short necks;
Teeth were conspicuously large;

Those characters survived among Veddas & unmixed Sinhalese;

Balangoda Man is regarded as the original Lankan.

Geometric microliths are considered as hallmark of Mesolithic

period;
Earliest dates of geometric microlithic tradition in Europe is
around 12,000 BP.

A surprise such tools were found early as 31,000 BP at

Batadomba-lena and other sites, like the two coastal sites in and
at Belilena;

28,500 BC

Lankans in Mannar, Horton plains to Bundala, in two family units;

Settled in every corner, from the damp and cold High Plain's such as
Maha-eliya (Horton Plains) to arid lowlands of Mannar and Vilpattu, to the
steamy rainforests of Sabaragamuwa;

Camps were small, rarely above 50.0 Sq.m, occupation by not more than a
couple of families at most;

Life-style not much different from the Vaddas of Sri Lanka;

They had been moving from place to place, on an annual cycle of looking
for food;

Had started business between the coast and the hills 28,500 BC: Lankans

Beads of shells discovered deep inside the country;

Discovery of marine shells in inland sites such as Batadomba-lena, points

to an extensive network of contacts between the coast and the inland.

28,500 BC Lankans had burial customs;

Balangoda Man had bury his dead underneath his camp floor;
Selected certain bones for this purpose;
At Ravana Ella cave and Fa Hien Lena, red ochre had been
ceremonially smeared on the bones;

Geometric microliths are found in Batadomba Lena in the tool kit

of Balangoda Man;

Tool kit of Balangoda Man is comprising small (less than 4 cm long)

flakes of quartz and (rarely) chert fashioned into stylised lunate,
triangular and trapezoidal forms;

Geometric Microlithic tools found, 28,000 BC at two coastal sites in

Bundala and over 27,000 BC at Beli-lena;

27,000 BC:

Evidence from Beli-Lena that salt had been brought in from the coast at a
date in excess of 27,000 BC;

15,000 BC:

Pollen evidence from the Horton Plains for herding and the farming of
barley and oats by 15,000 BC and also around 8,000 BC;

Female body parts recovered proved use of needles (made of rabbit

bones), and necklace (made of a see-thru material like glass but as hardy as
plastic). The Archaeologists have named her Nimali.

13,000 BC:
Discovery of remains of two pre-historic humans and other artefacts in a
cave in Alawala, Gampaha;

This discovery has also unearthed tools to butcher animals, A shark

tooth ornament and remains of breadfruit seeds called Kekuna;

10,500 BC:
Alu-lena near Attanagoda, Kegalle. More human remains were discovered

6,500 BC:
Bellan- Bendi Pelessa near Emblipitiya, an open-air site of human remains;

Secret of the Strong Bones;

Evidence from caves showed Lankans were having very wide range of
food-plants and animals;

Prominent were canarium nuts, wild breadfruit and wild bananas;

Showed that Lankans ate any type animal, from elephants to snakes,
rats, snails and small fish;

This well-balanced diet must be the secret behind the robusticity of the
human skeletal remains.

6,300 BC :
Dorawaka-Kanda Cave near Kegalle;

Geometric Microlithic industry & pottery;

Evidence of transition from Mesolithic Balangoda Culture to the

protohistoric early Iron Age;

Indications at this site of pottery (together with stone stools) being used as
early as 6300;

Had proved existence of a geometric microlithic industry;

Also proved a cereal and a crude red pottery by 5,300 BC, and Black and
Red Ware by 3,100 BC.

6,000 BC:
Mahamevuna Uyana, Proof of Horses;

10 meters below existing Anuradhapura, remains of a huge settlement

dated to 9000-6000 BC was uncovered 2001 AD;

Proof for Lankans using Horses before North Indians arrival in 483 BC;

6000 BC:
Palle Malala Site, a pre-historic camp at a dried-up lagoon in Hambantota; :

First proof of pre-historic shell midden in the country, fireplace, grinding

stone, burial room, Rough clothing;
Lived, hunted and fished for food and buried the dead ;
Hunted sambhur/deer/wild boar with crude stone & sharpened bone tools;
Meat was roasted over an open hearth;
Fish and reptile meat was a common diet;
Bones were ground on a large flat stone to extract marrow;
Skins were dried to make rough clothing;

Animal remains were as many as 50 species of deer, hare, mouse, wild boar
and kulumeema (Bos indica);

Found a primitive grinding stone & vestiges of a fireplace, probably for

roasting molluscs;

A meter below living floor was the burial floor;

Seven adult skeletons have been found buried;

Shell midden, a mound of threw away shells of animals such as oysters and
mussels;

Based on the size of the shell midden, there would have been at least 15
people dwelling at the site;

6,000 BC:
Palle Malala discoveries indicates origins of Maha Sona beliefs;
Discovered in the burial floor, a skull of a wild boar with tusks intact, next to a
human skull, suggesting a kind of burial ritual;
Traditionally, Mahasona is depicted as having the head of a boar;
Veddas kirikoraha ceremony, uses the head of a boar, offering tribute to
Kande Yaka, the God of Hunting;
6,000 BC:
Similarity of Palle Malala man with rest of the world;

Lankan were in forefront of human development, thus, lifestyles of stone age

Lankan could not have had much difference from others;
Striking similarities in contemporary stone tools found anywhere;

Burial practices too appear to similarities;

Human bodies found had been buried in a curious folded position where
knees and elbows had been folded towards the body in burial.
Similar burials in 'folded' position have been unearthed from sites
elsewhere;

There had been frequent migration between the landmass that was Sri Lanka
at the time and the Indian continent, across the Palk Strait.

4,000 BC:
Discovered a pre-historic grave site near Ibbankatuwa Wewa in Dambulla;
3,500 BC :
Discovered a ferry/ boat on Attanagalla Oya that could carry over 150
passengers;
Proving existence of a well-established water-based transport system;
3,000 BC:
Stonehenge construction begins. In its first version, it consisted of a
circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts;
1,000 BC:
End of stone age and the beginning of Iron Age;
900 BC:
Remains of extensive human settlements at Anuradhapura;

The End