Sudharshan Seneviratne Department of Archaeology University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka HENRY M JACKSON LECTURE. WHITMAN COLLEGE. WALLA WALLA. WA. USA. 12THAPRIL 2006 The level of academic standards they have sustained is a testimony to the commitment in intellectual capacity-building as your contribution towards humanizing knowledge. Mission statement to the next generation of archaeologists “The science of archaeology is problem-oriented and issue-related. It is essentially a multi disciplinary study investigating, documenting, interpreting and presenting human expressions, experiences and behaviour patterns of the past to its rightful inheritors, the next generation. The archaeologist investigating the past is a scientist who is objective, unbiased and unprejudiced. Above all, an archaeologist is a humanist and social activist who does not fear the past or compromises the future”.

Sudharshan Seneviratne Ph.D., FSLCA Professor of Archaeology. Department of Archaeology. University of Peradeniya Director Archaeology. UNESCO-Sri Lanka CCF Jetavana Project at Anuradhapura Co-Director Anuradhapura Citadel Archaeology Project Senior Advisor. Minister of Foreign Affairs INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY

SUDHARSHAN SENEVIRATNE Ph.D., FSLCA Professor of Archaeology. University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka Director Archaeology. UNESCO-Sri Lanka Central Cultural Fund Project at Jetavana, Anuradhapura. Co Director. Anuradhapura Citadel Archaeology Project. *This paper was originally presented in 2005 at the CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH ASIAN  ARCHAEOLOGISTS.  JULY 4TH TO 8TH at the British Museum, London. Anuradhapura, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in 1981 and holds the distinction of being a prime pilgrim as well as a visitor destination in South Asia. The essay questions certain values assigned to historical sites and the extent to which such sites tend to overplay the bona fide status legitimizing identities of particular cultures/groups thereby intentionally or unintentionally marginalizing the histories/antiquity of the ‘other’. As much as World Heritage sites are recognized, declared and inscribed by UNESCO, conversely the underlying ideology or at least certain narrow functional needs of member

Applications of Geological methodologies in archeological research have been rapidly increased around the world and developed as a new field known as Geo archaeology. The field Geo archaeology provides the knowledge and the skills to understand the site formation processes, human occupations and their activities. Particle size analysis, organic matter content and phosphate analysis of sediments are commonly used techniques in Geo archaeological studies. Sediments from an excavation carried out in Varana rock shelter no 5, which is a prehistoric site were analyzed by above mentioned Geo archeological methods to study stratigraphic of the sediment layers and prehistoric human occupation.