Batatotalena Cave

atatotalena Cave

The 

Batatotalena Cave

The Batatotalena Cave (also spelled Batadombalena), also known as the Diva Guhava in Buddhist literature, is a cave system in Sudagala, 5 km (3 mi) away from the town of Kuruwita, in the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka.

The cave measures approximately 15 m (49 ft) high, 18 m (59 ft) wide, and 25 m (82 ft) in length, totalling the internal cave area to 6,800 m3 (240,000 cu ft). Accessing the cave involves a 400 m (1,300 ft) hike from Sudagala, and an additional 50 m (160 ft) climb to reach the cave entrance. Approximately 30 m (98 ft) from the cave is anther partially submerged cave, which is accessible after a 20 m (66 ft) swim.[1][2]

In Buddhism, it is believed to be the cave in which the Lord Buddha spent the day after placing his footprint on Adam's Peak, from where he supposedly proceeded to Dighavapi.[1]

The archaeological site contains evidence of habitation from 8,000 BCE, and is one of the sites which may prove the "Out of Africa" hypothesis[3], according to Professor Paul Mellars, a Cambridge University archaeologist. The evidence he found of Balangoda Man in in the cave were some stone tools that may have been arrow- or spearheads, and carefully shaped and perforated beads made from fragments of ostrich eggshell. A further piece of ostrich eggshell, incised with a distinctive criss-cross motif, has also been found.