Articles

Indeed the Bandarawela region is one the best-studied areas in terms of revealing the traces of Sri Lanka’s so-called Bandarawellian Culture in open-air contexts. The archaeologically richest locality for these sites is behind the present Anglican church on the Bandarawela – Welimada road. These sites were first discovered by the Sarasin brother

By Chryshane Mendis The Dutch forts of Sri Lanka are a unique group of monuments of the island’s tangible cultural heritage. Built by the Dutch...

Over 100 Sri Lanka Dive Sites are related to historical shipwrecks and shipwreck sites in Sri Lankan waters. They are scattered around the country, and there may be many unknown shipwrecks around the country. Most of the identified historical shipwrecks belong to the colonial period, and the oldest shipwreck site identified is the 2000 years old Godawaya Shipwreck Site, the oldest shipwreck site in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Sri Lanka has many colonial period monuments and chief among them are the forts, which are mainly of Dutch origin. While much has been...

Fortifications and the Landscape: A GIS Inventory and Mapping of Kandyan and Dutch Fortifications in Sri Lanka Extended Abstract H.M. Chryshane Mendis Master’s thesis MA Landscape and Heritage...

The main objective of this research is to explicate the significance of Cowry Shells (Monetaria moneta) that discovered from the Ancient Harbour of Ambalangoda which located at No 85 –Patabandimulla Grama Niladari Division (GND) of Ambalangoda Secretariat Division (SD), Galle District (06 14 104 N - 080 03 127 E); through the collected data from field research (studying existing collection, collecting samples, lab analysis) and library survey methods. According to the investigations carried out by the groups of Archaeology, Maritime archaeology and non-archaeology (1998, 2007 and 2012) have been unearthed a number of Cowry shells with other artefacts.

The Prison cell of the last King of Kandy, King Sri Wickrama Rajasingha in Colombo fort is a somewhat well-known monument. Although most individuals working in the Fort area do not notice it, it is a famous destination for tourists. It is situated within the premises of the Ceylinco House building down Janadipathi Mawatha (Queen’s Street) at the turn off to Bank of Ceylon Mawatha. The aim of this article is to see if this is really the prison cell of the last King or something else; as there appear currently two traditions to this story, a common tradition and an academic tradition.

Inscriptions are an important source of information of the past in any civilization, and in that, Sri Lanka is fortunate to have a very large number of inscriptions from the earliest years of the Sinhalese civilization down to the Kandyan times. These various inscriptions, inscribed on stone and metal have aided the historian well, in complimenting and supplementing the already voluminous literature works. Sri Lanka’s inscriptions vary from scribbling of few words, to donations to clergy and to royal edicts and charters.

By Chryshane Mendis Pulligoda Pulligoda is a small cave containing paintings of the Anuradhapura period situated on a small rock outcrop several hundred meters from the...

As stated at the beginning of the paper, the work so far carried out is not conclusive. There remains much to be done. For example, it would be useful to compare this graffiti with the drawings of ships shown in Dutch period maps of Ceylon, India and Indonesia. In addition, any dates arrived at with regard to the wall paintings on which the graffiti had been drawn, would have to be taken into consideration. In conclusion it is wished to invite scholars with specialist knowledge to build upon the foundation laid and carry this fascinating line of inquiry further.

By Somasiri Devendra and Prof. Sarath Edirisinghe Questions, and an Answer   Like so many good things, what follows is a spin-off  from the “Ceylankan”. Last year Devendra...

This article series would sum up some of the most important events in the journey of Sri Lankan Archaeology, milestones which changed the way we think of the past, the way we know the past and the way we see and protect the past. Milestones in Sri Lanka archaeology would include important discoveries to institutional and policy establishments, which, has helped the field to progress to the present and helped expand our understanding of the past.