Stock Photo - A group of men from the ethnic Veddas community making fire in traditional way, in Dambana, Mahiyangana, Sri Lanka August 10, 2008 Sri Lanka´s ethnic Veddas or “Wanniya_laeto”, the forest dwellers preserve a direct line of descent from the island´s original Neolithic community dating from at least 16,000 BC and probably far earlier according to current scientific opinion Even today, the Wanniya_laeto community retains much of its own distinctive prehistoric cultural memory, and time_tested knowledge of their forest habitat that has enabled their ancestor_revering culture to meet the diverse challenges to their collective identity and survival With the impending extinction of Wanniya_laeto culture, however, Sri Lanka and the world stand to lose a rich body of indigenous lore and living ecological wisdom In Dambana of Mahiyangana, a very small group from the community, act as a troop and show visitors how they used to live in the past