Illustration 2.2. It was a custom of the prehistoric man to bury the dead body of a family member or a relative, who lived
with them, in the same cave in which he or she had lived. Evidence has been found that after some time, they exhumed
the skeletons and applied red ochre stones on them and performed a kind of a ritual activity.
They walked a distance of about 7 kilometres
per day searching for food. As they lived a
temporary life in caves, on some occasions they
buried the dead bodies of their relatives inside
the cave itself. On some occasions they had dug
a pit with a piece of horn or a stick for the burial.
Next, they had placed the dead body in the pit
and covered it up with garbage. 12 skeletons were
discovered in the cave of Belilena in Kithulgala
buried in this manner. In the graveyard of
Bellanbendipelessa, which was an open area,
there were 30 skeletons which belonged to
the Stone Age. 9 skeletons, which belonged to
different Ages, were discovered in the cave in
Pahiyangala.
Food Style
Many evidences of the nature of food of the
people who lived in the Stone Age are found in
the caves in lowland dry zone and in the caves
in wet land. According to the evidences found
so far, they had hunted animals such as gaur,
buffalo, black bear, wild boar, deer, spotted deer,
porcupine, hedgehog, hare, stag, giant squirrel,
mongoose, wild fowl, monkey, civet cat and
iguana for food. They had caught and eaten
fresh water fish which were full of protein. They
had caught small fish in natural water pools in
lowland wet zone for their food.To get starch they ate some plant food such as
wild breadfruit and wild plantains mainly. Some
evidences have been found in the cave ‘Belilena’
in Kithulgala about seeds of the wild breadfruit
which had been baked and eaten 12500 years
ago. In addition, some food full of starch such as
yams ‘ Gonala, Katuala’, seeds of ‘Kithul’ and the
kernel of ‘Dothalu’ were eaten. Evidences have
been found in a few examined places that food
had been eaten after being baked.