The written history of Sri Lanka commences from the 16th century B.C. with the arrival of king Vijaya but human history of Sri Lanka extended to about 38000 years back From Bellanbendi Pelessa near Kaltota were found the shells of suails which were suspected to be eaten by man and thrown away as waste.
According to Professor Shiran Daraniyagala, it was found that such as above skulls belonged to the homo sapian Balangodansis man and resembled, findings of primitive men found in countries like peking Java and Africa.Much information regarding the Balangoda man was found out from the Monotoniously, Godawaya Kadiramale and Gurugalhinna archaelogical sites.
The skull of the Balangoda man can be seen in the colombo museum and bones and other implements in the Ratnapura museum. According to charcoal and other things found it is believed that man used fire at that time and lived in caves.The name Balangodanious was given due to the fact that the skull was found in the Balangoda area. He was a hunter and seemed to have traveled far to find food. Homosapian refers to an intelligent man.