BELI LENA, Kitulgala

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A rock shelter, which is at the cave entrance about 100 feet or 30.6 m (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 383) wide gives access to a cave which is not only about 50 ft. or 15.3 m deep (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 383) and extends for some 12 m into the hill (Brooks 1995.04 Mss), but also contains two spacious chambers forming a very extensive cave which is probably the largest habitable cave in the wet-zone of Sri Lanka (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 383) and perhaps one of the five largest caves in Sri Lanka (DERANIYAGALA, S U 2002: 29). KAJALE (1989 figure 15.2) gives a photograph (perhaps taken in 1983) showing a widespread assemblage of excavation sites in a spacious sheltered space. Brooks (1995 Mss no. 4) interpreted the shape of the cave entrance to indicate solutional erosion of a mineral filled cavity / pocket in the gneiss. ETYMOLOGY: The Singhala -beli lena- translates into Snail Cave. So far, I saw the name of this cave called, spelled, transcribed, or edited as Beli Lena POSSEHL (1988: 172, 17) Beli- lena DERANIYAGALA (1998; 2001b) Beli-Lena Cave KAJALE (1989: 270 figure 15.2) Beli-lena, Kitulgala CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 383); DERANIYAGALA (1998, 2001b, 2002: 4); KAJALE (1989: 269); KENNEDY et al. (1986, 1987, 1988)Belihena CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 383) Kitulgala Brooks (1995.04 Mss no 3 Fa Hien Cave) Kitulgala Beli-lena cave Brooks (1995.04 Mss no 4 Kitulgala Beli-lena Cave) Kitulgala Belilena cave DERANIYAGALA (1987: 100) Kitulgala cave DERANIYAGALA (1987: 102). SITUATION: At a travelling distance of 38 km east of Colombo (KAJALE 1989: 269) and somewhere within one Ing Oya estate (note 1) near the village of Kitulgala (note 2). ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologically excavated by W.H. Wijayapala (1983) over several seasons. CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 383): Excavations were conducted … within Beli-lena at Kitulgala. … Hundreds of thousands of stone artifacts were recovered, made of quartz and chert and their distinctive forms denote a date not older than circa 10,000 B.C. which equatesit with the Balangoda Culture which preceded the proto-historic phase of around 500 B.C. Small bone points and certain notched pieces of bone, which had not been discovered previously in Sri Lanka, were also found. Remains which could be assigned to Lanka's mesolithic man also were found. A find of considerable significance is a type of lagoon shell which commonly occurs in sacks of salt today. The obvious conclusion is that the stone age inhabitants of Belihena [sic!] traded with the coast, probably the Puttalam or Hambantota straits, for salt. DERANIYAGALA, S U (1987: 100) reports numerous geometric microliths (lunates, triangles, trapezoidals) were excavated from Kitulgala Belilena cave. POSSEHL (1988: 172, 173) lists from an unspecified Beli Lena three mesolithic and late Upper Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates: FRA-93, PRL-861, and FRA-91. KAJALE (1989) undertook an archaeobotanical study of mesolithic plant exploitation. DERANIYAGALA, S U (1998; 2001b) notes the early evidence ofanatomically modern man (note 3) in Sri Lanka is earliest in –>Fa Hien-lena (ca. 37,000 BP), followed by –>Batadomba- lena 31,000 and 18,000, Beli- lena 16,000 (note 4), Fa Hien- lena 6,900, the open-air site Bellan- bandi Palassa 6,500, and Fa Hien- lena again 4,800 BP. The dating is based primarily on radiocarbon assays on charcoal, checked independently against thermoluminescence dating in the case of Beli-lena. DERANIYAGALA, S U (1998, 2001b, 2002: 4-5): Such geometric microliths have traditionally been considered the hallmark of the Mesolithic period as first defined in Europe. The earliest dates for the geometric microlithic tradition in Europe are around 12,000 BP. Hence it came as a surprise when such tools were found as early as… over 30,000 BP at Beli-lena. Sri Lanka has yielded evidence of this sophisticated technological phase over 19,000 years earlier than in Europe. However this apparent anomaly has been resolved by the discovery of geometric microliths in various parts f Africa, such as Zaire and southern Africa, from contexts in excess of 27,000 BP, thereby suggesting that Europe was late in manifesting this techno-tradition due to as yet undefined reasons. CAVE LIFE: DERANIYAGALA, S U (1987: 102) interprets the presence of the tree snail Acavus roseolabiatus at -Kitulgala cave- from circa 12,500 to 10,500 BP to indicate that the climate since the last Würm periglacial (circa 15,000) in the Wet Zone, more precisely in the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka, was similar to that of today.anatomically modern man (note 3) in Sri Lanka is earliest in –>Fa Hien-lena (ca. 37,000 BP), followed by –>Batadomba- lena 31,000 and 18,000, Beli- lena 16,000 (note 4), Fa Hien- lena 6,900, the open-air site Bellan- bandi Palassa 6,500, and Fa Hien- lena again 4,800 BP. The dating is based primarily on radiocarbon assays on charcoal, checked independently against thermoluminescence dating in the case of Beli-lena. DERANIYAGALA, S U (1998, 2001b, 2002: 4-5): Such geometric microliths have traditionally been considered the hallmark of the Mesolithic period as first defined in Europe. The earliest dates for the geometric microlithic tradition in Europe are around 12,000 BP. Hence it came as a surprise when such tools were found as early as… over 30,000 BP at Beli-lena. Sri Lanka has yielded evidence of this sophisticated technological phase over 19,000 years earlier than in Europe. However this apparent anomaly has been resolved by the discovery of geometric microliths in various parts f Africa, such as Zaire and southern Africa, from contexts in excess of 27,000 BP, thereby suggesting that Europe was late in manifesting this techno-tradition due to as yet undefined reasons. CAVE LIFE: DERANIYAGALA, S U (1987: 102) interprets the presence of the tree snail Acavus roseolabiatus at -Kitulgala cave- from circa 12,500 to 10,500 BP to indicate that the climate since the last Würm periglacial (circa 15,000) in the Wet Zone, more precisely in the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka, was similar to that of today.