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      Homo sapiens lithic technology and microlithization in the South Asian rainforest at Kitulgala Beli-lena ( c. 45 – 8,000 years ago)

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          Abstract

          Recent archaeological investigations in Sri Lanka have reported evidence for the exploitation and settlement of tropical rainforests by Homo sapiens since c. 48,000 BP. Information on technological approaches used by human populations in rainforest habitats is restricted to two cave sites, Batadomba-lena and Fa-Hien Lena. Here, we provide detailed study of the lithic assemblages of Kitulgala Beli-lena, a recently excavated rockshelter preserving a sedimentary sequence from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. Our analysis indicates in situ lithic production and the recurrent use of the bipolar method for the production of microliths. Stone tool analyses demonstrate long-term technological stability from c. 45,000 to 8,000 years BP, a pattern documented in other rainforest locations. Foraging behaviour is characterised by the use of lithic bipolar by-products together with osseous projectile points for the consistent targeting of semi-arboreal/arboreal species, allowing for the widespread and recurrent settlement of the wet zone of Sri Lanka.

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          Willow Smoke and Dogs' Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation

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            Organization and Formation Processes: Looking at Curated Technologies

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              Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

              The time of arrival of people in Australia is an unresolved question. It is relevant to debates about when modern humans first dispersed out of Africa and when their descendants incorporated genetic material from Neanderthals, Denisovans and possibly other hominins. Humans have also been implicated in the extinction of Australia's megafauna. Here we report the results of new excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia. Artefacts in primary depositional context are concentrated in three dense bands, with the stratigraphic integrity of the deposit demonstrated by artefact refits and by optical dating and other analyses of the sediments. Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, with a distinctive stone tool assemblage including grinding stones, ground ochres, reflective additives and ground-edge hatchet heads. This evidence sets a new minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia, the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, and the subsequent interactions of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: Writing – original draft
                Role: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: InvestigationRole: Supervision
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS One
                plos
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                13 October 2022
                2022
                : 17
                : 10
                : e0273450
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
                [2 ] Bereich für Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
                [3 ] Department of History and Archaeology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
                [4 ] Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
                [5 ] Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, United Kingdom
                [6 ] Department of Archaeology, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka
                [7 ] School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
                [8 ] Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America
                [9 ] Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
                [10 ] Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
                University of Michigan, UNITED STATES
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8831-8325
                Article
                PONE-D-22-05404
                10.1371/journal.pone.0273450
                9560501
                36227910
                3b14d4f5-c034-4391-8bf8-687f5f485c4f
                © 2022 Picin et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 22 February 2022
                : 8 August 2022
                Page count
                Figures: 11, Tables: 11, Pages: 36
                Funding
                Funded by: funder-id http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004189, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft;
                Funded by: funder-id http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft;
                Award ID: 429271700
                Award Recipient :
                This research is supported by the Max Planck Society and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. A. Picin is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG – project STONE, n° 429271700), and collaborates in the Spanish MICINN project PID2019-103987GB-C31. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
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                Earth Sciences
                Mineralogy
                Minerals
                Quartz
                Physical Sciences
                Materials Science
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                Biology and Life Sciences
                Paleontology
                Paleoanthropology
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                Quaternary Period
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