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