FA HIEN LENA

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A relatively impressive cave entrance (estimated 19 m to 30 m wide and up to 15 m or 16 m high) leads to a single chamber penetrating the hillside (Brooks 1995 Mss, item no. 3) for an estimated 20 m or 25 m and covering a floor space wide enough to allow 3000 people entering simultaneously (Internet, accessed 2008.09.02). The cave is important for the Late Pleistocene human skeletal remains discovered there in the 1960s and 1980s. ETYMOLOGY: The -lena- (cave), which is said to be found on the -gala- (rock) called -Pahiyan- (Internet) has been associated with the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and explorer, whose moral or religious name (note 1) has been transcribed (chronologically sorted) into Fa Hian ABEL REMUSAT (1836); KITTOE (1847); LAIDLEY (1848) or Fa Hien WADE-GILES (note 2) Fa-Hien LEGGE (1886); DERANIYAGALA (1998), Fa-hien BEAL (1887), Fa-hsien GILES (1923), and Faxian LI YUNG HSI (1957). The cave named in honour of Faxian (note 3) has been called, transcribed, or edited as Fa Hein cave Vasanthathilaka V W Jagath, panoramio.com/photo/6781472 accessed 2009.08.03 Fa Hien Cave KENNEDY & ZAHORSKY (1995: 839-853); Brooks, Simon J (1995 Mss, item 3), KENNEDY (2006); en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa_Hien_Cave (accessed 2010.10.06) Fa Hien-lena DERANIYAGALA (1998, 2001b, 2002) Fa-Hiengala Caves Internet (accessed 2009.08.02) pahiyagala cave Internet (accessed 2009.08.02) Pahiyangala cave Internet (accessed 2009.08.02). SITUATION: About 45 km in a direct line south-west of Colombo (Fort Railroad Station N06°56'01”: E079°51'01” WGS84), and somewhere in the vicinity of the village of Yatagampitiya (N06°39': E080°13'), which lies 5 km along the road east of Bulatsinhala (N06°40': E080°10'). A motorable road leads to a flight of steps ascending to the cave entrance. POSITION 1: N06°38'55”: E080°12'55” (unspecified geodetic datum, Brooks 1995.04 Mss). POSITION 2: N06°40'5.17”: E080°10'4.21” (unidentified format, unspecified geodetic datum, Dr. V. . Jagath Vasanthathilaka, panoramio.com/photo/6781472 accessed 2009.08.03). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1992: NOT SEEN: DERANIYAGALA (1992) needs to be read and comprehended. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995: Fa Hien Cave is a large cave or shelter once described as -the longest cave in the country exceeding even Kitulgala [note 4] in size- [and] actually a single chamber with an entrance measuring [sic! qua: guessing] some 30 m by 15 m [unspecified orientation] with the cave penetrating [sic!] the hill for 20 or 25 m (Brooks 1995 Mss, item 3). CAVE DISCRIPTION 2008, circa: At its entrance, the cave is 175 feet [53 m or 53 feet = 16 m] high and over 200 feet long [61 m or 61 feet = 18.7 m wide]. It is believed that 3000 people can be easily accommodated in this cave. The natural [sic! qua: imaginary] tunnels running inside the caves are now blocked and is not accessible. The cave has been divided into four sections of which the left side cave is the largest and is the centre of it. There is a deep pit dg out by the Archaeological Department for an excavation … (angelfire.com/in4/visitsl/prehistoric/pahiyagala/p… accessed 2009.08.02). ARCHAEOLOGY: Fa Hien-lena is important for the Late Pleistocene human skeletal remains discovered there in the 1960s and 1980s. The main finds consisted of microliths, the remains of ancient fire places, and the remains of plants and human beings (DERANIYAGALA 1996, 2001b, 2002). Radiocarbon dating indicated that the cave had been occupied from about 33,000 to 4,750 years ago — from the Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene (note 5). The human remains from the different levels were taken to the Human Biology Laboratory at Cornell University, where they were studied by Dr Kenneth A. R. Kennedy and one of his graduate students, Joanne L. Zahorsky (note 6). The oldest fragments of human bone came from a young child, two older children, a juvenile, and two adults, and showed evidence of being secondary burials: that is, after death, the boies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are abulous tunnels leading directly to far away, famous places. Needless to say that the natural tunnels running inside the caves are now blocked and not accessible. Along the same lines, and According to some Chinese people, in the 1940s, a Chinese monk named Thiashu Sangaraju who visited Sri Lanka had stayed in the cave. Later this cave has been converted to a Buddhist temple by a priest called Porogama. Ven. Porogama thera had used a 6 ft. Yakula [trident] which was similar to an iron crowbar. This iron crowbar is so heavy that even six people find it difficult to carry it. He used this to push the debris and soil that obstructed the entrance to the cave. He was also able to level the ground. The Yakula is now tied to the feet of the reclining Buddha statue which is 40 ft long. Ven. Porogama thera also made two colossal door frames for the Vihara which can be seen at the entrance.ies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are ies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are ies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are ies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are ies were exposed, and after decomposition and the predations of scavengers, the bones were placed in graves. The later remains included those of a young child, about 6,850 years old, and a young woman (nicknamed Kalu-Menika by the archaeologists), about 5,400 years old. Both were also secondary burials. The discoveries were important to archaeologists and palaeontologists because the earliest of the people buried in Fa Hien Cave lived at the same time as European Cro-Magnon man and other hominids of the Late Pleistocene around the world. Studies of the teeth found in the cave indicate that the population of Sri Lanka ground nuts, seeds, and grains in stone querns in the preparation of food, and that they continued to live as hunter-gatherers until about the 8th century BCE. Sri Lanka has yielded the earliest known microliths, which didn't appear in Europe until the Early Holocene (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legends: According to angelfire.com (accessed 2009.08.02), there are abulous tunnels leading directly to far away, famous places. Needless to say that the natural tunnels running inside the caves are now blocked and not accessible. Along the same lines, and According to some Chinese people, in the 1940s, a Chinese monk named Thiashu Sangaraju who visited Sri Lanka had stayed in the cave. Later this cave has been converted to a Buddhist temple by a priest called Porogama. Ven. Porogama thera had used a 6 ft. Yakula [trident] which was similar to an iron crowbar. This iron crowbar is so heavy that even six people find it difficult to carry it. He used this to push the debris and soil that obstructed the entrance to the cave. He was also able to level the ground. The Yakula is now tied to the feet of the reclining Buddha statue which is 40 ft long. Ven. Porogama thera also made two colossal door frames for the Vihara which can be seen at the entrance.