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UNP being led to its ruin - Sirisena
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Pawan98
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29 Jul 2007 16:13:05 GMT Report for Abuse
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Early Man and the Rise of Civilisation in Sri Lanka: the Archaeological Evidence
S. U. Deraniyagala
Director-General of Archaeology, Sri Lanka
ABSTRACT
PREHISTORY
The Himalayan foothills of the Indian sub-continent have yielded evidence humans having lived there around two million years ago. Although the earliest known dates for hominids in peninsular India are ca. 600,000 years before the present (BP), it is very likely that future research will indicate an age comparable to that of the Himalayan foothills, since there do not appear to have been any physical barriers to prevent humans from being present in southern India contemporaneously with their occurrence in the northern part of the sub-continent. Meanwhile, it is apparent that Sri Lanka was, more often than not, linked to southern India by a land bridge during this period. It is estimated that the sea level would have dropped sufficiently for creating such a connection on at least 17 occasions within the last 700,000 years. This phenomenon would have been caused by the rise and fall of the sea level due to cold/warm fluctuations in the global climate. The last separation from India would have occurred at about 7,000 BP.
It is therefore possible that humans were present in Sri Lanka from at least as early as one million years ago. There are ancient coastal sands in the north and southeast of the island which could be as old as 250,000 BP or even 700,000-500,000 BP. These deposits may contain evidence of human habitation, a prime research objective for the future. Another group of sediments that could yield remains of early hominids in Sri Lanka are the gem-bearing alluvial gravels of the Ratnapura District. These ?Ratnapura Beds? are of different ages and have yet to be plotted and dated accurately. But they do contain remains of an Upper Pleistocene fauna, notably a hippopotamus with six incisor teeth, a rhinoceros which has been dated from elsewhere (Lunugala gem gravel) to ca. 80,000 BP 1 and a lion. Associated with this fauna are stone artefacts comprising, typically, large choppers and flakes of quartz and chert, which have been assigned to the ?Ratnapura Industry?. However, apart from a human calotte of indeterminate age from a gem pit near Ellawala, no hominid remains have been forthcoming from the Ratnapura Beds. The faunal remains, which come to light in the search for precious stones could well include hominids and closer scrutiny could well be a rewarding exercise. Until future chronological resolution is achieved one could only affirm that the ?Ratnapura Industry? composes elements that could be of Upper Pleistocene or earlier age, whereas others could be much more recent.
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Pawan98
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29 Jul 2007 16:14:26 GMT Report for Abuse
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By about 125,000 BP it is certain that there were prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka (Deraniyagala 1992:686). The evidence stems from excavations conducted in coastal deposits near Bundala. Patirajawela yielded a small-flake stone tool industry from horizons dated to 125,000 to 75,000 BP, while Bundala-Wellegangoda had comparable material from ca. 80,000 BP 2 . These people made tools of quartz (and a few on chert) which are assignable to a Middle Palaeolithic complex (ibid.:252-4,458,688). Apart from such tools, no other vestiges of their culture have survived the ravages of time and tropical weathering: we do not know what these people looked like, although it can be guessed that they were early Homo sapiens somewhat akin to anatomically modern South Asians. Even the sizes of their settlement are not known due to the limited scale of the evaluation excavations surface indications are ca. 50 square metres or less per site. That they lived by hunting and gathering is obvious and it is probable that this conformed to the pattern discernible in the activities of their descendants some 100,000 years later. We do know, however, that the physical and biotic environments of these early humans, from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, fluctuated between pluvial and interpluvial episodes (ibid.:178-82,436-40) with corresponding oscillations in animal and food-plant resources which would have been reflected in shifts in human population densities. It is estimated that during certain pluvial episodes in South Asia, as at ca. 125,000 BP, the population density in the Dry Zone of northern, eastern and southern Sri Lanka (for ecozones v. ibid.:app.I) could have ranged between 1.5 and 0.8 individuals per square kilometre, whereas the Wet Zone in the west would have had densities of 0.1 or less. It has been hypothesised that interpluvials witnessed a narrower dichotomy in the zonal population densities, the respective estimates being less than 0.3 for the Dry Zone and over 0.1 for the Wet Zone. These figures are derived from ethnographic sources pertaining to South and Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers. Given the postulated densities of the food supplies, it is unlikely that large communities in excess of a couple of nuclear families were the norm, except perhaps along the northern and eastern coasts with their rich resources of marine foods (ibid.:178-82,436-44).
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Pawan98
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29 Jul 2007 16:36:29 GMT Report for Abuse
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Http://www.alternative-doctor.com/specials/SLacupuncture.htm
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Nightfox78
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29 Jul 2007 16:40:07 GMT Report for Abuse
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Another very interesting article!!.. :O)
Ramar Sethu not a man made structure, says EarthWeb
.. EarthWeb, a division of NASA that hosts astronaut photography of the Earth, has said that the 'Ramar Sethu' or Adams Bridge was not a man-made structure and that its occurrence was not evidence of any human activity.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/
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Karunawardana
Joined: Jun 2007
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30 Jul 2007 06:11:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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Supposing if RW had won the Presidential Elections (he should have rightly if not for VP's embargo) would these double mouthed people ever cross over to the Ban Wagon where the Tamashas are held and looting rampant.
RW would be the Bodisathwayo for the 17+ as well.
Success has many fathers. Failures many bastards.
RW should cultivate his PR and forge ahead.
KARU |
Ramz
Joined: Jul 2007
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31 Jul 2007 13:33:36 GMT Report for Abuse
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All of you beleive or not...all this is a drama..I no more beleive in any politicians in S.Lanka. nobody has a national policy...all of them (including ruling party and the leader)has only a 'my own pocket policy' and all are working accoringly....I don't know where we can see S.lanka after 5-10 years..by that time all current politicians might have reached their ultimate target of property and a new younger politician group will take over to ruin the island more and more thereafter
S.Lanka can only survive with a long term national policy (which should not change with the change of rulers...but it will be their for years untill the country reaches its peak in economy, peach, culture...etc) |
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