The Archaeology of Southern Sri Lanka
Introduction The archaeology of the southern and western maritime region of Sri Lanka is still a largely unexamined area. The past hundred years of archaeology in Sri Lanka has mostly been carried out in the northern peniplan where the ancient cities such as A'pura, Polonnaruva, Yapahuva, Sigiriya, are located. Sri Lankan archaeology has mostly been a narrative of the past of the Sinhalese kings and Monuments built by them. Efforts to offset this situation have been undertaken in the first phase of the SAREC supported bilateral archaeology programme. However, there have been only a few sporadic studies in the southern region since the last decades of the 19th century. A new interest in the archaeology of this region has been stirred up since the mid 60's with the works of Deranaiyagala, Bandaranayake, Wijepala and Weishar and this interest has further been heightened and made socially and politically meaningful with the launching of large development projects recently in the south such as `Southern Development Project'. in the region recently. The importance of the southern area of Sri Lanka for our knowledge of urbanism in south Asia as a whole has been emphasised in a recent synthesis of South Asian archaeology by Coningham and Allchin 1995 pp. 170-3.Research design Environmentally and culturally, the southern region constitutes certain specific characters in contrast to the northern peniplan. It encompasses a land area close to one fourth of the Island. The
maritime belt with a large
number of ports that are located and three important river basins have given a specific
social, environmental and cultural character to this region. The region has also been
constantly engaged in a social and political dialogue with the northern peniplane
throughout history. While Anuradhapura was developed as the centre of the Sri Lankan
civilisation, the southern region with its capital at Magama also developed, probably in a
similar fashion but as a separate social-political entity. Considering these aspects, the
proposed research is designed to compare the southern maritime region with three regions
in Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura (Malwatu and Yan Oya basins), Puttlam and Mannar (Kala Oya
basin) and the Horton Plains. The city of Anuradhapura and its environs and the Puttlam
and Mannar regions have already been examined and their archaeological databases are quite
comprehensive.
The archaeology of the Horton Plains has also been examined and a preliminary understanding of its paleo-environment obtained under the HRAC programme. Further information on the paleo-environment of the Horton Plains will provide sufficient information to compare the differences and similarities in two different topographical and environmental areas. Explorations, surveys and excavations will be carried out in the Southern region in comparison with the other regions in order to consolidate an archaeological framework of the major regions of Sri Lanka.