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 […]

Even though he is gone now, he still is an outstanding archaeologist and academic. His grift and tenacity inspired not only me but people all over the world. His sudden and painful demise is a massive knock-on of the infrastructure of Sri Lankan Archaeological Academia which is potentially irreplaceable. We lose people every day. But, […]

A large number of open-air sites are located on the hilltops and saddles in the dry patana grasslands indicating the Terminal Pleistocene / Early Holocene microlithic phase extending into the intermediate upland Dry Zone (Zone E). Indeed the Bandarawela region is one the best-studied areas in terms of revealing the traces of Sri Lanka’s so-called […]

The Dutch forts of Sri Lanka are a unique group of monuments of the island’s tangible cultural heritage. Built by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the 17th and 18th centuries during their occupation of the littoral, these forts ranged from large fortified towns and citadels to small forts with a garrison of just […]

Over 100 Sri Lanka Dive Sites are related to historical shipwrecks in Sri Lankan waters. They are scattered around the country, and there may be many unknown historical 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 […]

Sri Lanka has many colonial period monuments and chief among them are the forts, which are mainly of Dutch origin. While much has been studied about them, the archaeology of such sites of the Early Modern Period has rarely been investigated. It is only in the last few years that detailed archaeological excavations have been […]

Sri Lanka has many colonial period monuments and chief among them are the forts, which are mainly of Dutch origin. While much has been studied about them, the archaeology of such sites of the Early Modern Period has rarely been investigated. It is only in the last few years that detailed archaeological excavations have been […]