986 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [96, 19941

her clear summaries of its history and ethnic diversity, which place the Lur and their technology in a wider context. Both books portray objects that deserve detailed study. The Lur’s adze for chopping sugar loaves (Mortensen, p. 264) and the Qatari woman’s mughbut (inadequately glossed as “litter,” Ferdinand, p. 244) are resonant tokens of the regional division of labor, space, and political power in Luristan and Qatar. One looks forward to the forthcoming publications in this series and the chance that they offer to place these objects and practices in comparative perspective.

Sri Lankan Prehistory Revealed

CARLA SIN0POI.I Universily ofMichigan

The Prehistory of Sri Lanka: An Ecological Perspective. S. lJ Deraniyagala. Memoir Volume 8, Parts 1 and 2. Sri L a n k Department of Archaeological Survey, 1992.81 3 pp.

RI LANKA HAS BEEN THE FOCUS of intensive archaeological research since the 1880s. S Until this publication, much of that research has appeared only in administrative reports and isolated site reports and journal articles. This massive 8O@plus page work (divided into two parts) by S. U. Deraniyagala (Director-General, Archaeological Survey of Sri Lanka) is the first major synthesis of Sri Lankan prehistory. The volume incorpo- rates the author’s 25plus years of archaeological studies, as well as the work of numerous earlier and contemporary researchers (including the author’s father, P. E. P. Deraniy agala). Deraniyagala situates his discussion in an ecological framework and pays particu- lar attention to geornorphological contexts and evidence for environmental change. He also incorporates archaeological evidence from mainland South Asia, as well as ethno graphic data on Asian foraging populations, to provide a context for the interpretation of the Sri Lankan evidence. The book is intended both as a summary of current knowledge and as a charter to guide future research.

This is an extremely wide-ranging volume containing a wealth of information and a plethora of detail. In chapter 1, the author reviews the history of prehistoric research in Sri Lanka, tracing scholarly work from the early 1900s and reviewing current knowledge and the major questions that remain to be addressed. Deraniyagala outlines the four goals of his work the documentation and analysis of (1) Sri Lankan prehistoric chronology, (2) paleoenvironments and environmental change, (3) humanenviron- ment interaction, and (4) the relation of the Sri Lankan evidence to archaeological data of the South Asian mainland, as well as to broader-scale evolutionary and adaptive processes. Subsequent chapters pursue these goals through a discussion of research design (chapter 2), chronology (chapter 3), quaternary environment (chapter 4), prehistoric technology and subsistence-settlement data (chapter 5), and South and East Asian hunter-gatherer ethnography (chapter 6). Appendixes address the modem environment and distribution of wild plant resources and present the lithic typology (based on more than 200,000 artifacts) and a gazetteer of sites. Further, four addenda provide detailed chronological data and discuss recent advances in Indian prehistory.

Mu1 tiple lines of evidence are employed to define broad chronological frameworks. Rather than focus on individual sites, Deraniyagala relies on geomorphological infor-

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mation to identify extensive geological and chronological strata and their associated archaeological sites. He organizes his discussion around three major geological forma- tions: the fossil-rich Ratnapura beds of southwest and south central Sri Lanka, poten- tially containing evidence for the earliest human occupation of the island; the more widespread lowland Iranamadu formation (I Fm); and the inland Reddish Brown Earth formation (RBE Fm). Deraniyagala is prudently cautious in relying on lithic technology and artifact classes in developing the chronology, noting that many lithic types remained in use for long periods of time. He repeatedly notes that there is no conclusive evidence for either an Acheulian or Levallois tradition on the island. The earliest directly dated occupation site in Sri Lanka is the cave site of Batadomba-lena, containing microlithic artifacts and a series of radiocarbon dates in good stratigraphic context spanning from circa 28,500 to 10,500 B.P. Two sites in the I Fm are also dated to circa 28,000 B.P. using thermoluminescence techniques. An additional site (Site 5Oa), with nonmicrolithic artifact deposits in the basal gravels of the Iranamadu formation, is assigned to an earlier date of circa 74,000 to 64,000 B.P. on the basis of thermoluminescence dating of associated sediments. The probability of earlier (i.e., less than 125,000 B.P.) sites is raised, but Deraniyagala wisely resists the temptation to assign a definitive date to the earliest human presence in Sri Ianka, citing the current paucity of data.

The major period of human occupation discussed in this volume is the "Mesolithic," defined on the basis of the presence of geometric microliths with "no implications as to modes of subsistence or settlement" (p. 297). Microlithic sites, ofwhich more than fifty were documented by the author in the Iranamadu Formation alone, are characterized by an absence of ceramics and occur across much of the island (excluding the arid ecozone F in the extreme north). These sites date from circa 28,500 to 2800 B.P., with no evidence for significant technological or economic change. Sites are small (modal size approximately 50 square meters) and include open air and cave occupations, several containing burials. A range ofwild plant, animal, and shellfish resources were exploited; the dog may have been domesticated. After 2800 B.P., sites containing black-and-red ware ceramics, iron technology, domestic cattle and water buffalo, and rice agriculture seem to appear suddenly, initiating the "protohistoric" period and the emergence of political and social complexity. The author briefly discusses this transition, using the welldefined sequence from excavations at Anuradhapura. The similarities to peninsular India are stressed, and the author suggests that both population movement and local responses to new technologies should be considered in assessing these changes.

As noted earlier, the scope of discussion in this work is enormous and at times it is difficult to follow the main thread of the argument for all the detail presented. However, the author reprises major conclusions in extremely helpful chapter and section summa- ries. The discussions of contemporary archaeological sequences from mainland South Asia are welcome and place the Sri Lankan evidence in a broader context. However, the citation of evidence from the Middle East and Africa could have been trimmed. The text is generally well illustrated, though some of the early maps lack adequate captions, and lithic illustrations, while of good quality, are presented exclusively by site, making the author's discussion of his 16 classes and 115 artifacts types difficult to follow.

The Prehisstq of% Lanku will in large part appeal to anthropologists specializing in South Asia. The detailed discussions of contemporary Asian hunter-gatherers (includ- ing the Vadda, Kadar, Andaman Islanders, and Semang) and their interactions with agricultural populations are extremely informative, and discussions of Pleistocene paleoenvironments, lithic classification, and chronology will be relevant to many pre- historians. This book will be the benchmark study on Sri Lankan prehistory for a long time to come.