The research conducted at Fa-Hien Lena cave revealed an extensive osseous (bone) toolkit. The archaeologists identified 130 bone projectile points—including unipoints, bipoints, and geometrics—that were flaked and ground into shape from terrestrial animal bone (Langley et al., 2020).
These artifacts displayed distinct use-wear patterns, such as fixed hafting and distal impact fractures, which are characteristic of high-velocity projectile use. Coupled with the zooarchaeological record, which indicates a reliance on prime-aged adult arboreal monkeys, the size and weight of these bone points suggest they were hafted to arrows or blowdarts rather than thrusting spears (Langley et al., 2020). This sophisticated hunting strategy allowed early humans to effectively target and exploit small, agile prey in the dense canopy of the South Asian rainforest.
Contextualizing Early Rainforest Adaptation: Kitulgala Beli-lena
The discoveries at Fa-Hien Lena do not exist in isolation; they are part of a broader pattern of Late Pleistocene rainforest adaptation in Sri Lanka, supported by findings from neighboring sites like Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Microlithic Technology: Excavations at Kitulgala Beli-lena show a continuous use of bipolar microlithic production dating from roughly 45,000 to 8,000 years ago (Picin et al., 2022). These small stone tools were likely paired with the bone points discovered at Fa-Hien Lena to create composite hunting weapons and to process rainforest resources.
Site Stratigraphy and Climatic Resilience: Kitulgala Beli-lena preserves a roughly 3-meter-thick stratigraphic sequence of human occupation that persisted through periods of intense monsoon fluctuation during the Last Glacial Maximum (Kourampas et al., 2009).
Paleoecology: Isotope analyses from both Fa-Hien Lena and Kitulgala Beli-lena confirm that early human populations consistently relied on these wet deciduous and tropical evergreen forests rather than migrating to grasslands, maintaining a specialized rainforest foraging strategy across millennia (Amano et al., 2023).
Together, these sites overturn the previous assumption that tropical rainforests were impenetrable barriers to Pleistocene humans. The bow-and-arrow technology at Fa-Hien Lena, alongside the enduring microlithic traditions of Kitulgala Beli-lena, demonstrate rapid and complex technological innovation as H. sapiens conquered challenging habitats.
References
Amano, N., Wedage, O., Ilgner, J., et al. (2023). Of forests and grasslands: human, primate, and ungulate palaeoecology in Late Pleistocene-Holocene Sri Lanka. Frontiers in Earth Science, 11.
Kourampas, N., Simpson, I. A., Perera, N., Deraniyagala, S. U., & Wijeyapala, W. H. (2009). Rockshelter sedimentation in a dynamic tropical landscape: Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene archaeological deposits in Kitulgala Beli‐lena, southwestern Sri Lanka. Geoarchaeology, 24, 677–714.
Langley, M. C., Amano, N., Wedage, O., et al. (2020). Bows and arrows and complex symbolic displays 48,000 years ago in the South Asian tropics. Science Advances, 6.
Picin, A., Wedage, O., Blinkhorn, J., et al. (2022). Homo sapiens lithic technology and microlithization in the South Asian rainforest at Kitulgala Beli-lena (c. 45 – 8,000 years ago). PLOS ONE, 17, e0273450.
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