Protecting our heritage from pollution By Ama H.Vanniarachchy “There may have been a time when preservation was about saving an old building here or there, but those days are gone. Preservation is in the business of saving communities and the values they embody.”  Richard Moe, National Trust for Historic Preservation Among the many threats and … Continue reading Prevention is Better than Cure →

By Ama H.Vanniarachchy “In Sri Lanka, there grows to this day, a tree, the oldest historical tree in the world which we know certainly to have been planted as a cutting from the Bodhi tree (in Bodhgaya) in the year 245 B.C.” – H.G. Wells “Animals and plants are protected globally as part of the … Continue reading Animals and plants as part of the Cultural Heritage of Sri Lanka →

අමා එච් වන්නිආරච්චි විසිනි “සතෙකුගේ ජීවිතය අපගේ ජීවිතයට වඩා කිසිඳු ආකාරයකින් අඩු නොවන බව තේරුම් ගැනීමට මානව වර්ගයා ඉගෙන ගත යුතුය.” – පෝල් ඔක්ස්ටන් – පසුගිය (2020) මැයි මාසයේදී අපට වාර්තා වූ එක් අවාසනාවන්ත සිදුවීමක් වූයේ හැටන්, නල්ලතන්නිය ප්‍රදේශයේදී ජනවාරි මාසයේදී දැකගත හැකි වූ දුර්ලභ සහ සුවිශේෂී කළු දිවියා දඩයම්කරුවන්ගේ උගුලකට හසුවීමේ පුවතයි. ජිවත් වීමේ … Continue reading ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික කෞතුකාගාරයේ ටැක්සිඩර්මි අංශය (මිය ගිය සතුන් සංරක්ෂණය) →

අමා එච්. වන්නිආරච්චි විසිනි “මේ සොහොන් ගෙට ඇතුළු වන සියලුම මිනිසුන් මෙම සොහොනට විරුද්ධවී නපුරුකම් කර එය විනාශ කරයි; (එනිසා) ජලයේදී කිඹුලා ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධ වෙත්වා, ගොඩබිමේදී සර්පයන් ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධ වෙත්වා. ජලයේ සිටින හිපපොටේමස් සහ ගොඩබිම සිටින ගෝනුස්සන් ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධ වෙත්වා.” පුරාවිද්‍යාඥ සහ ඊජිප්තු විද්‍යාඥ ආචාර්ය සාහි හවාස්ගේ රන් මමිවරුන්ගේ නිම්නය (Valley of the Golden Mummies) … Continue reading ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සෙලිලිපිවල සඳහන් ශාපයන් →

By Ama H. Vanniarachchy “All people who enter this tomb who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it, may the crocodile be against them in water and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in water, the scorpion on land.”  — Archaeologist and Egyptologist Dr.Zahi Hawas in his book … Continue reading Cursing the Old-Fashioned Way →

අමා එච්. වන්නිආරච්චි විසිනි යුද්ධ විනාශකාරී ප්‍රතිඵල ගෙන එයි. යුද්ධය විසින් සිය ගණනක් ජීවිත හා දේපළ විනාශ කරනු ලබයි. සමහර පැරණි ශිෂ්ටාචාර මිහිතලයෙන් තුරන් වීමට හේතුවක් වන්නේද යුධ කලකෝලාහලය.යුද්ධ නිසා මානව වර්ගයාගේ සංස්කෘතික උරුමයන් දරුණු ලෙස විනාශ වී ඇත. යුද්ධයක් අවසන් වූ පසුවත් උරුමයට සිදුවන හානිය, එය වැළැක්වීමට පියවර නොගන්නේ නම් දිගටම පවතිනු ඇත. දශක … Continue reading යුද්ධයේ නිහඬ වින්දිතයන් →

By Ama H. Vanniarachchy Wars bring devastating results. Wars destroy hundreds of lives and property. Wars have been the reason behind the vanishing of some civilizations from the face of the earth. Heritage is severely damaged by wars. The damage caused to heritage even after a war ends tends to continue unless measures are taken … Continue reading Silent Victims of War →

The largest animal ever to exist on Earth, the magnificent and iconic blue whale, was previously hunted almost to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling activities and remains an endangered species today. The blue whales found in Sri Lankan waters, in the Northern Indian Ocean, are non-migratory and believed to be resident in these […]

Introduction: The Father of Archaeology Sir William Flinders Petrie, legitimately addressed as the Father of Archaeology, also was the first to systematically investigate the Pyramids in Egypt during the 1880s. He was the archaeologist whose six decades in a field produced a vast amount of archaeological evidence existed for all periods of Egyptian history from […]

Raj Somadeva is a senior professor attached to the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology(PGIAR), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Prof Raj Somadva, during the excavation. He was born on October 31, 1960. According to his birth certificate, his full name is Delgahawatthage Raj Kumar Somadeva Delgahawatta. He is currently attached to the PGIAR, which he joined […]

Part 1 By Ama H.Vanniarachchy Among the many threats and conflicts faced by the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka, pseudoarchaeology has been playing a major role in recent times. With the advance of interactive and social media and the development of modern digital technologies, cultural heritage and archaeology seem to be paying a high price. … Continue reading Unscientific Twisting of the Truth →

By Ama H. Vanniarachchy  “The female warrior knows how to fight without violence. She knows when not to raise her sword, but instead hold up her heart. Her shield is not a defence against others but a shelter for all.” – Riitta Klint As we celebrated Women’s Day on 8 March, it seems as if … Continue reading Rewriting ‘His’tory; a need of a feminist approach to Sri Lankan history →