Prehistory and Early Historic Sri Lanka
This domain covers Sri Lanka from the Palaeolithic to the early historic period: hunter-gatherer evidence, the transition to iron and megalithic burial, the growth of Anuradhapura, and the earliest written traditions about kingship and Buddhism.
Core evidence
- Balangoda Man is represented by skeletal and cultural material from caves such as Fa Hien Lena, dated to c. 34,000 BP; geometric microliths and evidence of hunting and gathering define the Mesolithic.
- From c. 900–600 BCE, iron technology, agriculture and megalithic cist burials (for example at Ibbankatuwa) mark the protohistoric transition.
- Early historic Anuradhapura shows planned settlement, irrigation and Brahmi inscriptions from about the third century BCE.
- The Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa are later monastic chronicles, not contemporary court records. They preserve traditions of Vijaya, the Yaksha and Naga peoples, and the arrival of Buddhism under Devanampiya Tissa with Mahinda.
Worked example
A source question contrasts a cave occupation layer with the Vijaya story. Reasoning: the cave layer is archaeological and dated by stratigraphy and radiocarbon; the Vijaya narrative is a much later literary composition serving monastic and dynastic purposes. Neither should be discarded, but they answer different questions: settlement and economy versus origin ideology.
Traps
- Treating Vijaya as a documented historical individual.
- Assuming prehistory ends when the first text appears.
- Confusing the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa dates or purposes.
- Ignoring trade links with South India and the Roman world.
- Reading chronicles as neutral chronicles rather than shaped narratives.