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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 →
අමා එච් වන්නිආරච්චි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංස්කෘතික උරුමයන් මුහුණ දෙන බොහෝ තර්ජන සහ ගැටුම් අතර, ව්‍යාජ පුරාවිද්‍යාව (Pseudo-archaeology) මෑත කාලයේ සිට කැපී පෙනෙන අර්බුධයක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. සමාජ මාධ්‍යවල ප්‍රගතිය සහ නවීන ඩිජිටල් තාක්‍ෂණ දියුණුවත් සමඟ සංස්කෘතික උරුමයන් සහ පුරාවිද්‍යාව ඉහළ වන්දියක් ගෙවන බව පෙනේ. මෙම මෙවලම් සහ තාක්ෂණයන් කිසිඳු සීමාවක්, ඇගයීමක් හෝ තත්ත්ව පරීක්ෂාවකින් තොරව … Continue reading ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ව්‍යාජ පුරාවිද්‍යාව සහ සංස්කෘතික උරුමය – 1 කොටස →
Our Last Queen The tragic fate of Venkata Rangammal The throne of our last king sat in the museum gallery as a doorway to a lost past. The throne, although magnificent, is tragic and doomed. It is the throne of a doomed king of a doomed kingdom. Next to the throne lies the crown of … Continue reading →
It is no easy task to pen down few words on the life history of a colossus like Dr. Siran Deraniyagala, but nevertheless, I will try. Life has its ways, its own twists and turns at times one would not expect; such was the shocking yet inevitable demise of Dr. Deraniyagala. The mystery of life […]
PE Peiris, PEP Deraniyagala and SU Deraniyagala was the legendary trilogy of Sri Lankan academia. The secrets of Sri Lankan past are not revealed easily. Their scientific striving to uncover the past of this island unfolded like an epic saga. They are still pointing us their fingers to examine the vast hinterland that remains to […]