Sri Lanka is an island with a very high density of caves. The lithology of the country is characterized by mostly Precambrian metamorphic rocks and Miocene limestone in the northern area of the country. Although caves are considered as dark spaces with many legendary tales, the scientific background of Sri Lankan caves were recently discovered after initiating scientific studies by Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of the University of Kelaniya. During this project of speleology, first ever attempt was made to classify Sri Lankan caves based on lithology, morphology and genesis. This particular classification was done comparing the investigated caves located in Rathnapura, Ruwanwella and Mahiyanganaya and other documented caves of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is an island characterized by mostly Precambrian metamorphic and Miocene limestone rocks and has a very high density of caves. Speleology, the scientific study of caves, has been identified as an important discipline that should be done parallel to the other archaeological research. In 2009 the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya (PGIAR), started researching Sri Lankan caves with the collaboration of the University of Sydney, Australia.

The 3rd International Congress of the Society of South Asian Archaeology (SOSAA) which will be held at the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka during 20th-21st August 2010. The congress will be attended over hundred foreign archaeologists and about thirty Sri Lankans including Dr. Roland Silva, Prof. Senake Bandaranayake and Dr. Siran Deraniyagala as Keynote speakers.

Susantha Goonatilake Phd The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) and its members pioneered in the 19th and 20th centuries the study of Sri Lankan society, culture, history and archaeology. Through interaction between its Sri Lankan and Western members, the RASSL provided a platform for East-West discourse. Most of these pioneers read like a Who’s Who in these matters.

The first Maritime Archaeology Museum in Sri Lanka will be opened by Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksha – The President of Sri Lanka today(March 04, 2010) at Galle.

Photo credit: Ruwan Janapriya Click on image to see a large image.

The logo of the Maritime Archaeology Museum depicts a vessel with a single mast, which is an iconic representation engraved on a second or first century BC Brahmi cave inscription at Duvegala in the Polonnaruva District. The inscription reads, “cave of Sagrakita, the barata”.

Sudharshan Seneviratne Ph.D., FSLCA Director General. Central Cultural Fund Sri Lanka was peopled by periodic community intrusions and interactions since the Stone Age resulting in the introduction of a variety of ideas, technological traditions, dialects, and belief systems into this island.  The central location of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean Rim on the one hand and its centrality between two World systems to the West and the East of the Indian Ocean on the other, provides a unique representation of the world culture blended in the ethos of this island society. As a consequence, the cultural landscape of Sri Lanka also represents a habitat of multicultural and varied biological identities.

Epigraphy of the Sigiriya-Dambulla Region Raj Somadeva Introduction Scattered in the 446.6 squre miles which from the study area (Bandaranayake 1990 : 14) lie nearly 300 lithic records. The evidence from these inscriptions gives an insight in to the development of the society which created them and so they cannot be ignored in a study of the Settlement Archaeology of the area. These inscriptions have served as vehicles of mass media at the time of their creation. Since these inscriptions containing information on edicts, ideas, prasastis, donations, etc. remain unchanged, they are a ready and reliable source of information for the present archaeologists to reconstruct the social history of a people of the past.

Raj Somadeva Sri Lanka was one of prime attractions of the Indian Ocean sailors since the early first millennium BCE. This was due to several reasons and notable among them is Sri Lanka’s strategic geographical positioning in this mighty Sea. Sri Lanka was almost in the mid point of the sea routes which linked the South China Sea in the east with the Red Sea in the west at that time .