Tourist Directory - Pre-History of Sri Lanka

Pre-History of Sri Lanka

The primitive history of Sri Lanka is in a shroud of mystery, yet there is perhaps no country in the world that has such a long continuous history and civilization. At a time when the now great nations of the west were sunk in barbarism, or had not come into existence, Sri Lanka was the seat of an ancient kingdom and religion, the nursery of art and the centre of eastern commerce. The incredible religious enlightenment of the island is more than 2550 years old. Our architectural structures are not challengeable. The vast irrigation works attest the greatness and antiquity of the civilization. Nature and art, the beauty of the sceneries, celebrated as the home of pure Buddhism, have made Sri Lanka from remote times the object of interest and admiration to modern nations. Merchants, sailors, and pilgrims have in diverse dialects left records of their visits, which confirm in a striking manner the ancient native chronicles which Sri Lanka is almost singular among Asiatic lands in possessions.

The pre-history of Sri Lanka dates back to about 125,000 BP and possibly even as early as 500,000 BP and covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron ages until the ancient history of Sri Lanka and evidence of transition between the Mesolithic and the Iron Age is scarce. Fluctuations in sea level led Sri Lanka linked to the Indian subcontinent from time to time over the past million years. The last such link occurred on around 5000 BCE. Findings at Iranamaduwa indicate that there were Paeolithic people in Sri Lanka as early as 300,000 BP. There is definite evidence of settlements by prehistoric peoples in Sri Lanka by about 125,000 BP. These people made tools of quartz and chert which are assignable to the Middle Palaeolithic period. This island has been colonized by the Balangoda Man (named after the area where his remains were discovered) prior to 34,000 BP. They have been identified as a group of Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Fa Hsien Cave has yielded the earliest evidence (34,000 BP) of anatomically modern humans in South Asia. Several of these caves including the well known Batadomba Lena and Fa Hsien Cave yielded many artefacts that point to them being the first inhabitants of the island. There is evidence from Beli Lena that salt had been brought from the coast earlier than 27,000 BP.

Several minute granite tools of about 4 centimetres in length, earthenware and remains of charred timber, and clay burial pots that date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic people who lived 8000 years ago have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha Vihara and in Kalatuwawa area. It is suspected that the hunter gatherer people known as the Veddas, who still live in the Central, Uva and North-Eastern parts of the island may be descendants of the Balangoda people. The skeletal remains of dogs from Nilgala cave and from Bellanbandi Pelassa, dating from the Mesolithic era, about 4500 BCE, suggest that Balangoda People may have kept domestic dogs for game. The Sinhala Hound is similar in appearance to the Kadar Dog, the New Guinea Dog and the Dingo. It has been suggested that these could all derive from a common domestic stock. It is also possible that they may have domesticated jungle fowl, pig, water buffalo and some form of Bos (possibly the ancestor of the Lankan neat cattle).

Balangoda Man appears to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, evidence from the plains suggests the initial management of Oats and Barley by about 15,000 BCE. The transition in Sri Lanka from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age has not been sufficiently documented. A human skeleton found at Godavaya in the Hambantota District, conditionally dated back to 3000 -5000 BCE was accompanied by tools of animal-bone and stone.

However, evidence from Horton Plains indicates the existence of agriculture by about 8000 BCE, including herding of Bos and cultivation of Oats and Barley. Excavations in the cave of Dorawakakanda near Kegalle indicate the use of pottery about 4300 BCE, together with stone stools, and possibly cereal cultivation. Slag found at Mantai dated to about 1800 BCE could indicate the data of copper-working.

Cinnamon, native to Lanka, was in use in Egypt in about 1500 BCE, suggests that there were trading links with the island. It is possible that Sri Lanka was the Biblical Tarshish (James Emerson Tennent identified it with Galle). A large settlement appears to have been founded before 900 BCE at Anuradhapura where signs of an Iron Age culture have been found. The size of the settlement was about 15 hectares at that date, but expanded to 50 hectares, to ‘town’ size within a couple of centuries. A similar site has been discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya. The earliest chronicles the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa say that the island was inhabited by tribes of Yakkhas (demons), Nagas (cobras) and Devas (gods) which are totemic references.

Pottery dating to 600 BCE has been found at Anuradhapura, bearing Brahmi script (among the earliest extant examples of the script) and non-Brahmi writing, which may have arisen through contact with Semitic trading scripts from West Asia. The emergence of new forms of pottery at the same time as the writing, together with other artefacts such as red glass beads, indicates a new cultural impulse. The Brahmi writing appears to be in Indo-Aryan Prakrit and is almost identical to the Ashokan script some 200 years later; none appears to be in Dravidian - corroborating the view that Indo-Aryan was pre-dominant from at least as early as 500 BCE in Sri Lanka. Following ancient ethnic groups are attested from the ancient cave inscriptions found from different regions of Sri Lanka.

Millenniums before Vijaya, foreigners authored Vishnu Purana, Skanda Purana, and Ramayana. Vishnu Purana states that Vishnu waged war with the Sri Lankan Kings Iran and Makuta, and describes its populace as highly developed and civilized. It is established in Skanda Purana and Ramayana. Rama invaded Sri Lanka millenniums after Vishnu and Skanda. Matsaya Purana states that Rawana’s son Indrajith bombed the invaders hiding in the clouds and it also states that he used a bow that could send out 12000 arrows per minute. All descriptions confirm that the indigenous populace of Sri Lanka was highly developed. The British history begins in 1066 AD with the Nomads war. When Christ was born in Nazareth, King Bhathikabaya covered the Maha Thupa with Jasmine flowers and sprinkled water pumped from Abaya Wewa. When St Paul was brought before Caesar as a prisoner, our ambassadors were enjoying royal patronage in Caesar’s palace.

There lies a wealth of traditions in our folk songs, and one can hear similes in our legends, demonology, and devil dancing. ‘Kohombakankariya’ offers a great deal of information of its people and features relating to ethnology, sociology, religious beliefs, and magical practices. However, the researcher is not able to assess, as the archaeological materials and evidence belonging to the pre-historic era remains concealed. Archaeologists who perform scientific excavations into likely areas of occupation have to establish it.

The Lankans taught the South Indians in the Cauvery basin to grow irrigated rice. It was done to have buffer stocks; sometimes our exports were taken by force, as indicated in the Mahavamsa. They built Poduke, the new city in Cauvery in South India indicated by Ptolemy in his map of the second century AD and it clearly indicates our contacts with the rest of the Asian world. It resulted in the development of an exclusive hydraulic civilization that our ancient inhabitants exercised from the Stone Age to the Iron Age bypassing the Bronze Age. In reference to the Ptolemy’s map various tribes and nations had their harbours and settlements for trade, the capital metropolises of the Kings, international emporia rivers and mountains, the source of rivers also the Sacred Adams Peak foot print is clearly indicated.

The finest example of the ingenuity of the Sinhalese irrigation engineering is the invention of the “Biso-kotuwa” (meaning queen’s enclosure in Sinhalese) in 3rd century BCE. Biso-kotuwa is the equivalent of the modern valve-pit, which operates in the regulation of the outward flow of water. It was the invention of “Biso-kotuwa” which permitted the Sinhalese to proceed boldly with the construction of vast reservoirs that still rank among the finest and greatest work of its kind in the world. The ancient Maduru Oya sluice discovered in 1981 had two sluices and was built in three stages, starting from the BCE period. According to the Mahavamsa the Yakkha clan held their annual New Year ‘Sun Festival’ at Dolapabbatha, which lies between Mahaweli River and Maduru Oya even during the time of King Pandukabhaya.

This indicate the antiquity of the region in the BCE period, which was occupied by the pioneers of irrigation technology, the Lankans who in their wisdom used cultivable land in cyclic rotation to recuperate their fertility by allowing the paddy fields to fallow alternatively.

The fall of the ancient hydraulic civilization of Lanka in the 13th century was due to the sudden change of the Mahaweli river course due to natural causes and not due to foreign invasions, as the historians say publicly. Scientific evidence is clearly seen in the aerial photographs of the old and the new Mahaweli River course. The ancient Mahaweli with its ancient Dagobas that were beside it like a string of pearls but today the Dagobas lies stranded, while the present river flows elsewhere with no Dagobas by it, which event took place 1220 AD? This sudden geological calamity changed the river course that sustained our ancient hydraulic civilisation. It led to disease and famine and resulted in the major part of the populace abandoning and moving to other areas. The change of the river course affected the great tanks to dry. The populace selected central wet zones and the wet zones to settle themselves along with their monarchy.

The findings and observations by Professor Joseph Needham confirm that the indigenous inhabitants were greatly developed and civilized and states thus, “Although an advanced system of ancient irrigation cannot be found in ancient Mesopotamia, Euphrates, Tigris or Indian River valleys, such system can be seen in Lanka. What is clearly visible is the fact that this knowledge did not belong to one generation only. That this advanced system has been systematically developed through generations on a basis of scientific principles”.

The most outstanding event that changed the entire island was the arrival of the Buddhist Mission to Lanka. Lord Buddha introduced Dhamma to Lanka in the pre-Vijaya era. However, it was declared the state religion in 307 BCE, which transformed of Lanka to a Buddhist State, socially, morally, spiritually, and materially. Thus the native populace; the four clans, the Yakkhas, Nagas, Rakshas the Devas and Indo Aryans shredded their differences and developed a civilisation Buddhism in spirit and Sinhala in form. The bond between Buddha Dhamma and Sinhalese are undividable. Today their culture is called Buddhist culture.

The Teachings of the Buddha is denoted in our national flag. The lion denotes the Sinhala race. The sword denotes sovereignty. The four 9Bo) leaves at the corners denote the four clans that shredded their differences to make this country a Buddhist country. It has been stated that Lanka had been invaded by foreign powers on many occasions. They ruled Pihitirata for nearly 272 years but none were able to conquer the whole island, except that she was handed over to the British by a Convention on March 2nd 1815 AD and gazetted on March 10th 1815 AD.