Fa-Hien Lena Cave (Phase C)
Basic information
Sample name: Fa-Hien Lena Cave (Phase C)

Reference: O. Wedage, N. Amano, M. C. Langley, K. Douka, J. Blinkhorn, A. Crowther, S. Deraniyagala, N. Kourampas, I. Simpson, N. Perera, A. Picin, N. Boivin, M. Petraglia, and P. Roberts. 2019. Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens 45, 000 years ago. Nature Communications 10(1):739 [ER 3769]
Geography
Country: Sri Lanka


Coordinate: 6° 38' 55" N, 80° 12' 55" E
Time interval: Late Pleistocene

Section: 3769

Unit number: 3

Unit order: above to below

Max Ma: 0.01044

Min Ma: 0.01029

Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)

Geography comments: "Fa-Hien Lena is located in Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone region, near the town of Bulathsinhala, 75 km southeast of Colombo in a lowland evergreen rainforest environment".
Phase C dates to the Terminal Pleistocene, from c. 13,000 to 12,000 cal. BP, based on six radiocarbon dates ranging from 10,440 ± 40 to 10,290 ± 40 BP.

Environment
Lithology: siltstone

Taphonomic context: cave,human accumulation

Archaeology: bone tools,hearths,stone tools

Habitat comments: "The cave, on the slope of a gneiss cliff, has a c. 30 m by 20 m east-facing entrance, an interior that extends c. 10 m into the cliff, and two main chambers (termed shelters A and B). The site is divided into four distinct phases, corresponding to concentrations of charcoal, faunal remains, and artifacts, including osseous tools, shell beads, and quartz flakes; each represent the major periods of human occupation of the cave".
"Phase C sediments are a very heterogeneous mixture of dark coloured organics-rich sandy silty loams, sandy loams and matrix-supported breccia with abundant charcoal and ash. Ash and charcoal are mixed with detrital sediments and also present as distinct laminae or lenses. Despite its relatively narrow temporal range, Phase C contains the densest concentration of artifacts and human occupation debris in the entire Fa-Hien stratigraphy".

Methods
Life forms: bats,carnivores,primates,rodents,ungulates,other small mammals,birds,lizards,snakes,other reptiles,frogs,fishes

Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash

Sample size: 1035 specimens

Years: 2009 - 2012

Sampling comments: "Fa-Hien Lena was systematically excavated over several seasons from 1986 to 1988, and from 2009 to 2012. The paper presents the results of the analyses of materials from the 2009 to 2012 excavations. Shelter A, the larger of the cave’s chambers, was excavated to a depth of over 6 m". No further excavation details are provided, although "all bone fragments from sedimentary contexts with secure radiocarbon dates were included in the analysis".

Metadata
Sample number: 4041

Contributor: Benjamin Carter

Enterer: Benjamin Carter

Created: 2022-10-29 14:32:47

Modified: 2023-05-30 03:19:17

Abundance distribution
39 species
3 singletons
total count 1035
geometric series index: 51.7
Fisher's α: 8.009
geometric series k: 0.8531
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8164
Shannon's H: 2.5300
Good's u: 0.9971
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Paradoxurus sp.18
Viverricula indica23.0 kg invertivore-carnivore
also 46 Viverridae indet.
Urva sp.6
"Herpestes"
Lutra lutra176.1 kg piscivore-carnivore
Canis aureus119.9 kg carnivore-frugivore
Prionailurus sp.1
Felis chaus25.3 kg carnivore
Moschiola sp.43
Sus scrofa3154 kg herbivore
Cervini indet.19
"Rusa unicolor/Axis axis"; also 36 Cervidae indet.
Muntiacus malabaricus28
"Muntiacus muntjak"; reassigned based on geography (Zhang et al. 2021)
Bovidae indet.15
Elephas maximus13711 kg grazer-browser
Macaca sinica55
Semnopithecus vetulus417.5 kg
"Trachypithecus vetulus"
Semnopithecus priam2110.0 kg
also 2021 Cercopithecidae indet.
Loris sp.3
Hystrix cf. indica2313 kg browser
Ratufa macroura418
Pteromyini indet.43
"Petinomys/Petaurista"; also 545 Sciuridae indet.
Muridae indet.17
Lepus cf. nigricollis10
Soricidae indet.2
Hipposideros sp.28.3 g
Megaderma sp.3
Rhinolophus sp.2
Pteropus sp.3
also 5 Chiroptera indet.
Colubroides indet.36
"Colubrid/Viper"
Python cf. molurus43
Varanus sp.73
Agamidae indet.6
Crocodylus sp.4
Gallus sp.12
Strigidae indet.1
Corvidae indet.2
Apodidae indet.2
also 7 Aves indet.
Anura indet.3
Tor sp.10
Siluridae indet.6
also 17 Actinopterygii indet.