Fig 1.
Location of Kitulgala Beli-lena and other Sri Lankan rainforest sites mentioned in the text as well as the stratigraphic sequence from the 2017 excavation (base map modified from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:SVG_topographic_maps_of_Sri_Lanka; data of vegetation zones adapted from Ashton, P. S. & Gunatilleke, C. V. S. New light on the plant geography of Ceylon.
I. historical plant geography. J. Biogeogr. 14, 249–285 (1987), and Erdelen, W. Forest ecosystems and nature conservation in Sri Lanka. Biol. Conserv. 43, 115–135 (1988); photos taken by NA and stratigraphic section drawn by NA from original section drawings made by JB, AP and OW).
Fig 2.
Example of bone implements recovered from the Holocene layers of Kitulgala Beli-lena.
A- unipoint manufactured from cercopithecid fibula (context 3), B-D bipoints made from cercopithecid femur shaft fragments (B: context 5; C-D: context 27).
Fig 3.
Schematic model of the reduction systems and the terminology used in this paper.
Fig 4.
Frequency of quartz types by chronological phases recorded at Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Fig 5.
Bipolar cores (1–7) and flakes (8–12) from the Late Pleistocene contexts of Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Table 1.
Total number and percentages of lithic artefacts in the Late Pleistocene.
Table 2.
Total number and percentages of the types of cores by different raw materials in the Late Pleistocene phase.
Table 3.
Counts, mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the metric attribute (mm) of the bipolar-on-anvil cores of Kitulgala Beli-lena in the Late Pleistocene phase.
Fig 6.
Plot of the relation between the length (mm) and the width (mm) of different categories of cores of Kitulgala Beli-lena by chronological phases.
Fig 7.
Plot of the relation between the length (mm) and the weight (gr) of different categories of cores of Kitulgala Beli-lena by chronological phases.
Fig 8.
Histogram of the frequency of complete flakes by length intervals during the different chronological phases at Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Table 4.
Count, mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the length (mm) of cortical flakes in Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Table 5.
Count, mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the length (mm) of complete flakes in Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Fig 9.
Bipolar cores (1–5) and flakes (6–1) from the Terminal Pleistocene contexts of Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Table 6.
Total number and percentages of lithic artefacts in the Terminal Pleistocene.
Table 7.
Total number and percentages of the types of cores by different raw materials in the Terminal Pleistocene phase.
Table 8.
Counts, mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the metric attribute (mm) of the bipolar-on-anvil cores of Kitulgala Beli-lena in the Terminal Pleistocene phase.
Fig 10.
Bipolar cores (1–5, 7) and flakes (6, 8, 9–12) from the Holocene contexts of Kitulgala Beli-lena.
Table 9.
Total number and percentages of lithic artefacts in the Holocene.
Table 10.
Total number and percentages of the types of cores by different raw materials in the Holocene phase.
Table 11.
Counts, mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the metric attribute (mm) of the bipolar-on-anvil cores of Kitulgala Beli-lena in the Terminal Pleistocene phase.
Fig 11.
Frequency of the weight of the quartz type by chronological phases recorded at Kitalgala Beli-lena.