The prehistoric archaeology of Sri Lanka is of considerable significance for investigations of the evolution, dispersal and adaptation of our species within a variety of environments beyond Africa during the Late Pleistocene. In particular, the archaeological and fossil sequences of Sri Lanka’s ‘Microlithic tradition’, c. 38,000–3,000 cal. years BP, have yielded some of the earliest Homo sapiens fossils, microlithic technologies, osseous toolkits, and evidence for symbolic ornamentation and long-distance contacts anywhere in South Asia. The further association of the Late Pleistocene portion of these records with the tropical rainforest of Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone also makes Sri Lanka of particular interest for debates regarding the viability of tropical rainforest for early human foraging and specialization. Yet beyond mentions of its fossil evidence, the archaeology and palaeoenvironmental contexts of the ‘Microlithic tradition’ have remained little-explored in the international literature. Here we present the first critical review of this period of Sri Lankan prehistory, examining its local chronologies, the spatial and diachronic patterns of its material cultural sequence, and relating its technological and fossil record to broader international archaeological, anthropological and genetic debates.