This paper was published in Annual Archaeological Congress-2009 organized by the Department

of Archaeology, Sri Lanka.

Geoarcheological Approach of Varana Cave Complex; Sediments from

an Excavation of Varana Rock Shelter No-5, Sri Lanka

Pathmakumara Jayasingha1, Raj Bandara2, Gamini Adikari3, Arjuna Thantilage3

1. Research Laboratory, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka
2. Department of Archeology, Sri Lanka
3. Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Abstract
Applications of Geological methodologies in archeological research have been rapidly increased around the world and developed as a
new field known as Geoarchaeology. The field Geoarchaeology provides the knowledge and the skills to understand the site formation
processes, human occupations and their activities. Particle size analysis, organic matter content and phosphate analysis of sediments
are commonly used techniques in Geoarchaeological studies. Sediments from an excavation carried out in Varana rock shelter no 5,
which is a prehistoric site were analyzed by above mentioned geoarcheological methods to study stratigraphy of the sediment layers and
prehistoric human occupation.

Varana rock shelter-no 5 is comparatively a small place found in cave complex at Varana temple premises, Sri Lanka. The rock shelter
is made up of a granitoid boulder rest on the exposed outcrop of Ambagaspitiya granitoid body. Sediment deposit accumulated under
the rock shelter is Autochthonus derived by detaching of rock fragments, mineral fragments and individuals grains from walls and roof
of rock shelter. Particle size analysis and textural studies show that the sediments are clastic and coarse grained in texture. Dominant
minerals of the clasts are quartz followed by feldspar. According to the values of effective grain size, average grain size and cumulative
coefficient, three litho stratigraphic units representing different environmental conditions can be identified. Top historic layer and
bottom prehistoric layer contain finer fraction than that of middle post mesolitihic layer. Both Phosphates content (Ptot) and organic
matter content of sediments are decreased downward. Though the Ptot is low, the positive correlation of Ptot with organic matter content
and the densities of lithic tools and pottery assemblages indicate rate of human activities and the anthropogenic alterations of soil
geochemistry. The lack of evidences of prehistoric hearths and low concentrations of Ptot may gives an idea that rock shelter had been
used as an occasional temporary place during the prehistoric period.
Keywords: Geoarchaeology, Varana rock shelter, autochthonus sediments, grain size analysis, stratigrapgy

Introduction
Geological studies have been applied in archeological research in the world for long time
and applications have been rapidly increased among the present day archeologists. This
field; a combination of both subjects archaeology and geology, is known as
“Geoarcheology” which is some what newer field for Sri Lankan archeology specially as
one of a tool for interpreting soil strata of an excavation. The subject Geoarcheology

Corresponding author : jpathma@yahoo.com

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provides the knowledge and the skills to understand the formation processes that lead to
creation of archeological layers, sites and landscapes while making the connection between
archeology and geology. Also it gives a strong background to interpret archeological
findings from which past human occupations and their activities can be understood (Rapp
& Hill., 1998, French., 2003).

Archaeological excavations deal with the soils or sediments in which the evidences of past
humans and their activities are stored. According to the place the types of soils or
sediments are different in texture, mineralogy and its origin. Among the large number of
different archeological landscapes, caves have long been in interest of archeologists. These
natural open cavities on earth are two types, according to the size and shape; Caves and
Rock shelters. Cave has a small opening with a deep space while rock shelter has a wide
opening with a short depth. Both this geological formations had been played a major roll in
archeological context. Caves and rock shelters which are natural sediment traps show
different sediment deposits originated from different processes such as Geogenic, Biogenic
and Anthrpogenic in origin (Karkanas et al, 2000).

Geogenic cave sediments can be categorized as clastic and chemical according to the
origin (White, 2007). Prehistoric or historic events can be associated or alter these
sediments which are more precisely named as cultural sediments. One of a goal of an
archaeological excavation is to rebuild the paleoenvironmental processes and human
activities acted on and caused for deposition of cultural sediments during a particular time
period. The depositional processes can be unchanged for long period of time and sometime
it can be changed within short period of time causing different geogenic, biogenic, and
anthropogenic or combination of deposits of all above.

The behavioral interpretations of human activities in an archaeological context provide the

keys for determining rates and trends of cultural changes over the time. Caves with
prehistoric human habitations had provided some component of required information for
the study of human evolution. The relics of human activities are preserved in those caves
in the form of fractured bones, lithics, ash and charcoal (Karkanas et al, 2000). Cave

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sediments are characteristic since their nature of sediment grains and composition. Caves
are mostly composed of fine grained sediments (Torres, 2003) and fraction of fine grained
depends on the deepness of the cave. In some cases it is very hard to identify those fine
grained sedimentary layers from the adjacent layers since the homogeneity of sediments.
But in case of rock shelters, sediments are expected to have less amount of fine fraction
with more coarse clasts.

And also it is highly concern about the behavior of the sediment chemistry, which is
altered by the anthropogenic activities as well as natural phenomena. The chemical
elements like nitrate, phosphate, carbon as well as cations like Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and some
other trace elements can be accumulated or removed from the soil system by the human
activities. In hunter gatherer’s time, more meat and plants had been used as food materials
and food wastes had been dumped in and around their living places. This has lead to the
elevated levels of phosphate in the sediments. Phosphorus rather than the other elements
like nitrate and carbon, quite stable in soils but behavior of soil phosphate is complex.
Detection of Phosphorous levels in cultural sediments was used as an indication of
occupation of human as well as a measure of type of and intensity of activities by
archeologist for long time (Holliday and Gartner, 2006). There are many natural and
cultural sources of phosphorous and different pathways of entering phosphorus to the soil
have been identified.

Caves and rock shelters are rock formations. The formation process of a cave can be
different from place to place. The formation processes highly depend on the material as
well as regional and micro climate. Among the different types of caves, rock shelters are
widely distributed in Sri Lanka. Rock shelters are open in three sides and highly
experience the influences of natural environmental processes such as rain and wind.
Varana cave complex which is the study site has several rock shelters which had been
occupied by prehistoric people. Rock shelter-No 5 have been excavated first by a team of
Postgraduate Institute of Archeology, University of Kelaniya during the period of
December, 2005 to January, 2006 and an excavation was again carried out from March,
2006 to April, 2006. Though the study of Sri Lankan cave sediments have been interested

47
among archeologist of Sri Lanka, geoarchaeological applications have been very rarely
used in their research. In this study, our attempt was made to apply geological
methodologies to interpret site formation process as well as to correlate with past human
activities that alter the geogenic sediments deposited in the Varana rock shelter-no5.

Geological background

The study site is located in the premises of Varana Rajamaha Viharaya, Varana.
Geologically this area belongs to highland complex which consists of Precambrian
metamorphic rocks. The study site is situated on the northern margin of the famous
Ambagaspitiya Granitoid rock, which is an oval shaped body covering roughly 40sq km of
the area around Ambagaspitiya (Marthavan and Hettiarachchi, 1989). The study area is
characterized by undulating morphology with scattered hillocks and steep sided inselbergs
with huge boulders rest on the large outcrops of the granitoid. Those boulders were used to
build the Varana Cave temple.

According field observations it is found that the granitoid rock is composed of pink
feldspar, quartz and biotite. Feldspar minerals found here is two types; Microcline is the
dominant and followed by plagioclase (Marthavan and Hettiarachchi, 1989).The other
interesting morphological feature is the vertical alleys running from top to bottom of the
exposed areas of the rock and on the boulders (figure.2.a). They are most probably
weathering features along weak zones of structures or minerals. Theses alleys are carved
steeply and arranged in a parallel to each other. The depths of the alleys are greater at the
top of the boulders. The excavated cave was found on the top of the exposed granitoid out
crop.

48
Figure 2: a- vertical alleys resulted from differential weathering, b- Front view of rock shelter no 5.

The rock shelter no 5 is widely open in three sides and mouth is facing in western direction
(figure 2.b). The rock shelter covers the ground area approximately 40 Sqm. The western
part of the ground is open and ends with a gentle slope. Entire ground covers the area
approximately 100 sq m. Two small rocky ponds are found in right hand side of the cave.

Sediment stratigraphy defined in the field

After the excavation, the sediment deposit has been categorized in to four sediment layers
according to field observations. As shown in the figure 4, after the thin surface layer the
second layer accumulated has been identified as a historic layer. In addition to some Laxmi
coins, pottery and lithic tool assemblages were recovered from this layer. Third layer found
below the historic layer and the fourth layer in which only pottery and lithic assemblages
were found are prehistoric layers probably postmesolithic. The assemblages of lithic tools
and pottery have been recorded in high density in third layer.

Figure.4: Stratigraphy of the sediment deposit in Varana Cave no 5; South wall.

Methodology

49
Soil samples collected from the excavation pit representing different depths and different
cultural layers were analyzed for Soil texture, Phosphate levels (Total P) and Organic
carbon.

Particle size analysis by dry sieving was performed to determine the soil textural
properties. Soil samples were air dried and large rock fragments (>4mm) were removed.
Soil texture was determined by gradational curves obtained from dry sieving according to
the ASTM standards. Before sieving samples were treated with Hydrogen Peroxide to
remove the organic matter. Since the fine fraction is very low (less than 5%), hydrometer
test was not performed. Cumulative coefficient, Average grain sizes and Effective grain
sizes were calculated from the gradational curves. In addition to that, mineralogy, color
and shapes of the grains were examined by naked eye.

Organic carbon was measured according to the method of loss on ignition. Initially 1g of
oven dried sample was weighed and heated at 375 C 0. After 16 hours of heating the final
weight was measured and from the difference of initial and final weights the amount of
organic mater was calculated. Soil phosphate was measured by spectrometer after
extraction by simple ignition followed by acid digestion (Anderson, 1976, Aspila et al,
1976). The sediments were passed through 2mm sieve and 1g was weighed. Weighed
samples were ignited at 550 C in muffle furnace for 48 hours. Then the samples were
digested at 300 C for 24 hours by using 1N HCl acid. The digested samples were extracted
by using diluted HCl. Extracted solutions were measured with Spectrophotometer.

Results and discussion

D10 represents a grain diameter for which 10% of the sample is finer than it. D10 is known
as the effective grain size. D50 is the grain size from which 50% of the sample is passed or
the known as average grain size. Cumulative coefficient (Cu) is defined as the ratio
between D60 and D10. Calculated D10, D50 and Cu are presented in table 1. Figure 5
shows the gradational curves for the sediments.

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Table 1: Calculated parameters of D10, D50 and Cu of sediments from different depths

Sample no Layer ( defined after D10 /mm D50/mm Cu=D60/D10

this study)
L1 surface 0.28 1.8 8.7
L2 1 0.15 0.9 8.6
L5 2 at 32cm 0.8 2.5 3.75
L5a 2 at 50cm 0.6 2.3 4.6
L8 3 at 95cm 0.28 2.5 10.71
L9 3 0.2 2.3 15
L15 3 at 115cm 0.18 2 13.9 10% of
L23 3 at 76cm 0.28 2.5 11.07
the
sediment of the surface layer has the particle size less than 0.28mm while 50% of the
sediment passing has the grain size of 1.8mm. The cumulative coefficient indicates the
sediments are non-uniformly distributed or poorly sorted sediment. 10% of the second
layer has the particle size less than 0.15mm and the 50% of the sediment grains passing has
the grain size of 0.9mm. The cumulative coefficient is 8.6 indicating poorly sorted
sediment. Two samples from third layer (context 5) sampled at the depths of 32cm and
50cm show somewhat close values for D10 which are respectively 0.8mm and 0.6mm and
as well as close values for D50 which are respectively 2.5mm and 2.3mm. Cumulative
coefficient of both samples from third layer is less than 5 and this indicates the sediments
are uniformly distributed or sorted. Samples collected from context 8 and context 23 show
similar values for D10, D50 and Cumulative coefficient. The sample L8 was collected at
the depth of 95cm and L23 was collected at the depth of 76cm.

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Figure 5: Gradational curves for sediments samples-L1, L2, L5/32cm, L5/50cm, L8, L9 and L23

The values obtained for the samples collected from context 8 and 9 also show similarity
and the values for D10, D50 and Cumulative coefficient of the samples of L8, L9, L15 and
L23 fall in to a same range. According to the values of Cumulative coefficient for these
four samples, it is understood that sediments are non-uniformly distributed or poorly
sorted.

Figure 6: percentages of different classes in sediments; percentages of retained in each sieves verses phi
values which indicate the diameter of grains.

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It is found that most of the deposited sediments are clastic in origin except the surface layer
of which some places have been altered by the activities of termites to form biogenic
deposits. Generally the sediments are coarse grained. Figure 6 shows the frequency curve
for the L2, L5/32cm, L8 and L9. All the sediments have average size of grains ranging
between gravels to coarse sand. The dominant grains of the historic layer (layer 1) are very
coarse to coarse sand. Prehistoric layers, probably postmesolithic, have the dominant
grains of gravel to coarse grained sand. All the layers have a very low fine fraction which
is less than 5% (Table 2).

These sediments are composed of rock fragments, mineral fragments and weathered
products of primary minerals. Rock fragments and mineral fragments are composed of
partially weathered feldspar and quartz. The dominant mineral fragments are quartz. Most
of the fragments are angular in shape; especially quartz fragments have sharp edges. Sizes
of the most of the fragments vary between 1mm to 4mm. In addition to above rock and
mineral fragments it is found that some forms of iron oxides which are in nodular shape.
Iron nodules which are secondary in origin are an indication of periodic wetting and drying
of site it self.

According to the mineralogy, sizes and shapes of the clasts show the insitu origin of
sediments of the site. The small boulders as well as fragments of rocks and minerals
derived from weathering of rock shelter ceiling or walls have been deposited to form the
sedimentary layers, known as Autochthonous sediments, over the time with later
alterations and further fining by chemical weathering. The bottom part of the prehistoric
layer just above the bed rock has been derived from weathered bed rock. These natural
processes have been interacted with anthropogenic activities to form cultural layers. The
deposition of fine particles derived from the walls mainly depends on the cave size and
deepness. Since this is a small rock shelter with a wide opening it is hard to accumulate
fine sediments as found in caves at Pahiyangala or Kithulgala Beli lena. This is evidenced
by the presence of fewer amounts of fine particles in the sediments (table 2).

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Table 2: Phosphate (Total) content, % of organic matter and fine fraction of the sediment

Sample no Total Phosphorus % of organic matter % of Finer fraction

content- mg/l content
Sample L1/SURFACE 49.473 2.08 0.862
Sample L02 44.601 2.61 3.153
Sample L5/32CM 64.420 2.41 0.268
Sample L5/50CM 28.211 1.88 0.452
Sample L8/95CM 25.174 1.90 3.830
Sample L23/76CM 23.012 1.90 3.958
Sample L9 19.621 1.87 3.734

Table 2 shows the phosphate concentrations (Ptot) of samples representing different context
and layers. Figure 7 shows the Ptot variation with the depth. However all the values are
average and do not indicate elevated levels. The highest values are recorded in the sample
collected from upper part of the postmesolithic layer. At the 50 cm depth, the Ptot is again
decreased in the same layer. The phosphate concentrations of the other samples collected
below the depth of 50cm also show the lower values and decreased downward. The
organic matter content also shows the downward decrease. The values of Ptot show the
positive correlation with the percentage of organic matter (figure 8).

Variation of phosphate content with the depth

mg/l
0.000 10.000 20.000 30.000 40.000 50.000 60.000 70.000

2cm

20cm

32cm
depth

50cm

76cm

95cm

Figure 7: Variation of phosphate content with the depth

54
The microbial activities also support the release of phosphorus in organic mater to the soil
(Huang, 2004). This may lead to loss of poorly bonded phosphorus from the system with
surface runoff. Since this rock shelter is open the impact from the rain and wind should be
greater and there is a possibility to remove some soil particles with phosphorus both from
rain water and wind. Soil pH plays a major roll in solubility and precipitation of
Phosphorus (Iyamuremye and Dick, 1996). Decrease in pH increases the solubility of
phosphorus but it depends on the soil chemistry. Also the soil moisture content affects
phosphorus enrichment. Since the pH of the soil layers were not measured it is not possible
to correlate with the phosphate levels. As well as, spatial distribution of phosphorus is not
uniform in particular soil layer (Adikari and Thantilage, 2006). It depends on the human
behaviors over the time.

The density of artifacts and pottery are high at the top of the second layer at which the
phosphate concentration is high. The density of artifacts and pottery is decreased
downward in the layers 2 and 3. This relationship is followed by the phosphate content
down the layers.

Total phosphorous vs organic matter %

44.601
2.5
64.420

49.473
2
Oranic matter %

23.01228.211
25.174
1.5

0.5

0
0.000 10.000 20.000 30.000 40.000 50.000 60.000 70.000
Total phosphorus

Figure 8: Correlation between total phosphorus and organic matter content in the sediments

55
Normally elevated phosphate levels could be visible in the prehistoric habitation layers
possibly because of there food habits (Adikari and Thantilage, 2006). But in this site lower
phosphate level is seen in the bottom layers where prehistoric habitations were present.
This may be due to less human activity during that time. The low intensity of animal bones
and other prehistoric dietary remains present may also support this argument.

The purpose of using this rock shelter should also be clarified. According to the low values
of phosphate and the environment in and around the rock shelter, it could be suggested that
this may be due to less human activity and probably the site may have been used as an
occasional temporary place during the prehistoric period. It is also supported by absence of
ash patches or hearths from 2nd and 3rd cultural layers.

Summary

Studied prehistoric site is a sediment deposit accumulated in a small rock shelter. The
sediment deposit is Autochthonus derived by detaching of rock fragments, mineral
fragments and individuals grains from walls and roof of rock shelter with a contribution to
some extent, from weathered bed rock to the bottom part of the prehistoric layer. Particle
size analysis and textural studies show that the sediments are clastic and coarse grained in
texture. Dominant minerals of the clasts are quartz followed by feldspar. According to the
values of effective grain size, average grain size and cumulative coefficient, three litho
stratigraphic units representing different environmental conditions can be identified.
Though the fine fraction is less than 5% in all cultural layers the highest values are
recorded in historic and bottom prehistoric layers. This indicates some changes in
environmental conditions. The densities of artifacts and potteries have direct relationship
with phosphate content representing the correlation between human activities and the
changes of soil geochemistry. The lack of evidences for prehistoric hearths and low
concentrations of phosphates gives an idea that this place may have been used as an
occasional temporary place during the postmesolithic period. This argument is also
supported by low densities of human bones and human dietary remains in the sedimentary
deposits.

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