Direct evidence for human reliance on rainforest resources in late Pleistocene Sri Lanka

Abstract

Pleistocene humans in tropical rainforest The tropical rainforest environment is nutritionally poor and tricky to navigate as compared to open habitats. This poses challenges for human subsistence. There has been little evidence to suggest that human populations relied on rainforest resources before the start of the Holocene, 10,000 years ago. Roberts et al. analyzed earlier fossil human and animal tooth enamel from Sri Lanka. The diet of these humans suggests rainforest rather than open-habitat foraging. Thus, humans were effectively exploiting rainforests in Sri Lanka since at least 20,000 years ago throughout periods of considerable climatic and environmental flux. Science , this issue p. 1246