[3] Periodization of Sri Lanka history: The Stone Age had approximately existed from 125,000 years ago to 1800 BC minimum.
[3] In June 2020 research carried out by the Max Planck Institute, Griffith University in Australia, and the Department of Archaeology (Government of Sri Lanka), showed that occupants of the Fa-Hien Lena cave had developed bow and arrow technology 48,000 BP.
[6] Several minute granite tools of about 4 centimeters in length, earthenware and remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots that date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic people who lived 8,000 years ago have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Warana Raja Maha Vihara and also in Kalatuwawa area.
[7] The Balangoda Man appears to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game.
A human skeleton found at Godavaya in the Hambantota district, provisionally dated back to 5000–3000 BC, was accompanied by tools of animal-bone and stone.
[9] However, evidence from Horton Plains indicates the existence of agriculture by about 8000 BC, including herding of Bos and cultivation of oats and barley[citation needed].
[16] The earliest chronicles the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa say that the island was inhabited by tribes of Yakkhas (demons), Nagas (cobras) and devas (gods).
[4][8][18] This has been disputed by leading epigraphist Harry Falk who states that regional chauvinism is to blame for the claims of a pre-Ashokan Brahmi script.
[19] The emergence of new forms of pottery at the same time as the writing, together with other artifacts such as red glass beads, indicate a new cultural impulse, possibly an invasion from North India.