A considerable amount of information on prehistoric culture has been gathered from various areas in Sri Lanka. Batadomba Lena Cave in Kuruwita and Bundala in the southern Sri Lanka are two prehistoric sites which are as old as 40,000 years and 125,000 years respectively. Several caves in the wet, dry and intermediate zones were excavated during the last 70 years and a large amount of evidence has been discovered from these sites, which could be used to explain the prehistoric culture in Sri Lanka. Archaeo-faunal evidence helped to describe the prehistoric man not only as a hunter gatherer but also as a fisherman in the floodplains, rivers and streams. The simplest form of fishing tools made out of bones were discovered from many prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka, indicating that there existed a gradual development of fishing technique and related activities. In this synthesis, an attempt is made to discuss

Senarat Paranavitana was the most competent epigraphist we have ever had and he has deciphered hundreds of lithic records as well as 685 Sigiri graffiti; he was well versed in his mother tongue as well as in English and in two other oriental languages, Sanskrit and Pali. Yet as he was not omniscient he could make mistakes. With apologies and due respect to his vas knowledge we intend to re-examine a few terms which are refered to in our epigraphic records that he has misinterpreted.

Arjuna Thantilage, Phd Senior Lecturer Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology Introduction Although Sri Lanka has no significant ‘Bronze Age’ culture, it would appear that copper metallurgy had played some role in the beginnings of settled and literate or proto-literate civilization in the island. In this chapter we make an attempt to contribute to the reconstruction of the beginnings of metallurgy in Sri Lanka in what would be a completely new interpretation in this matter.

Hema Goonatilake PhD (Lond) Visiting Professor, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia Published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, New Series, Vol. LIII, 2008 The development of Sinhalese-Lao relations is tied to Sinhalese relations with the broad South-east Asian region, immediately prior to the establishment of the Lao kingdom. It is therefore useful to survey the political and religious situation in the region, with special emphasis on their relations with Sri Lanka.

Hema Goonatilake PhD (Lond) Visiting Professor, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia Published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, New Series, Vol. LIII, 2008. Sri Lanka, till the arrival of the Europeans, has been very possibly the major influence of a high culture in the whole South East Asian region. The earlier Hindu influences which led to such descriptions as “The Indianized States of Southeast Asia’1 are now being increasingly recognised as an over-statement. South Asian influences outside the royal court and among the common people actually occurred largely through Sinhalese contacts (Hall, 1981, p. 22)”.

Hema Goonatilake PhD (Lond) Visiting Professor, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia Introduction The intensive relations between Sri Lanka and Myanmar span over a period of 1000 years beginning with the emergence of the city of Bagan (written by British as Pagan) in the 11th century as the cradle of Burmese culture and civilization. This ancient capital of Myanmar epitomizes one of the world’s greatest feats of building construction – greater than all of Europe’s cathedrals, the construction of which spread over nearly seven centuries whereas Bagan is home to 4,446 monuments built within a period of two and a half centuries, mostly within a period of 150 years. Bagan is a unique city encompassing approximately 40 square km. with a wide variety of religious buildings, some standing higher than 70 metres. Among these are 260 large monuments influenced by Sinhalese.

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.

Arjuna Thantilage Phd Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology – Sri Lanka *This was first published in the Sirimal Lakdusinghe felicitation volume. I am privilege to write an article to this special volume dedicated to Mr. Sirinimal Lakdusinghe. I am even more privileged that I being able to write this article for this special volume dedicated to him since it discusses one of his valuable discovery on two Hindu images by art historical means, based on scientific evidences.

Arjuna Thantilage Phd Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology The history of use of metals in Sri Lanka is an area yet to be studied thoroughly and hence have very vague picture on the subject. But it has recently been shown that the copper metallurgy may have been played a very important role in our cultural formation process against the

Arjuna Thantilage1,Senake R. Ratnayake2 1 Lecturer, Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology 2 Chemical Conservation Officer, Department of Archaeology Abstract It is a well known fact that there was no way of producing liquid iron from wrought iron in historical period and hence, casting of iron implements was impossible. An ancient bowl made of iron was subjected to microscopic investigations with a view to find its manufacturing technology. By means of these microscopic images, it was possible to understand some important technological aspects of ancient Sri Lankan iron implements manufacturing process.