Fourteen thousand years ago with the last ice age just ending, most of the Northern hemisphere was still covered in ice, and the sea level was 120 meters below current level. Lanka was part of the continuous land mass of the Indian peninsular. Study of fossilized pollen by Dr T. R. Premathilake (PGIAr) have shown that Oats and Barley was being cultivated in the Horton plains during that era. Over next seven thousand years the earth warmed and the sea level rose to the current level and Lanka became an Island.
Recent excavations in many parts of Lanka appear to show that more than a 4000 years ago the inhabitants of the Island had a developed social structure. Over the last month I got the opportunity visit some of these sites from long before Vijaya's arrival in Lanka. .
The ancient megalithic burial site at Ibbankatuwa 3 km south of
Dambulla was identified in 1970 and was excavated in the 1980's is the
most accessible site. It is walking distance from the main road around
86 km on A6. The graves are made with large flat stone slabs. The
site has been Carbon dated back to about 2600 years ago.
Very interesting artifacts including a beautiful bead necklace which
were found in these graves are on display at the small archeology
museum of the Kalaniya University. A grave made with clay used for
cremation and for interment of ashes was also found at Ibbankatuwa and
has now been filled in for protection.
At Rancha Madama School premises few km off A18 south of Embilipitya, a few clay graves were found and excavated by Prof Raj Somadewa (PGIAr) in 2007. It has been Carbon dated to 3300 years ago. A foundation of an ancient house was also located in the premises of the Sri Jayabodharama Vihara on the hill behind. This was reported in the news in 2009 September and has now been also dated to the same period. Stone tools, grinding stones, red and black ware and metal tools were unearthed. It is the oldest site in Lanka with metal tools and is from the transition of the Stone Age to the Agricultural Age.
When I visited the site about 3 weeks ago the excavation at the school
had been refilled, with just the top of the clay graves walls
exposed. A large temporary shed had been built over the site for
protection. A new school building had been constructed at a distance,
to be able to demolish the old building and extend the excavation. A
watcher we met at the site was motivated to give site the protection
it needed.
Asking directions we than travelled to the Vihara in Udaranchamadama. The foundation of the ancient house was sadly exposed and threatened by rain water washing over it from the hills behind. The temporary shed had been removed. The young monk in the Vihara was not very interested in the archeological site and probably saw it as a threat to the sanctity of the vihara he was trying to develop. The Department of Archeology, even after one year, has still not moved to Gazette and protect the foundation of this ancient house.
We next went to see the complete skeletal remains which was found
in coastal village of Minie-Ethiliya in the Magampura district, laid
to rest in a fetal position with his head to the North, and covered
with a large quantity of shells, Excavations were done by Dr.Nimal
Perera of the Archeology Department.
Named Menik Hamy the skeleton was Carbon dated to 4000 years ago, he
is now on displayed just as was found except for orientation, at the
new Museum constructed in the Star Fort in Matara. A nice little
museum which is well worth a visit the next time you pass through
Matara.
Ten days later I got the opportunity to visit the current excavations
being done by Prof Raj Somadewa at Haldulmulla This site is just off
A4 at about 179 km on the side road towards the Haldulmulla Tamil
School. It was the media publicity about Rancha Madama that prompted
locals of the region who had known about this grave yard for many
decades to bring this site to the attention of the PGIAr. Some of the
graves had got overed by the tared road to the school
which need to be removed. The site has yielded a number of clay graves
of various sizes.
The skeletons of the dead were brought and laid in these clay graves
after all the flesh dissolved and firewood was piled over them covered
with clay and set on fire. The size of the rectangular grave was based
on the number of pots with ashes of the dead that were interned in it.
From just 2 in a small, to up to 30 in a large grave. From the
similarity to clay graves at Rancha Madama they are expected to be
from the same era.
The most spectacular find from this excavation has
to be the beautiful Microlith with a triangular shape that was
discovered in a small grave close to the school wall.
Even the classic site at Ibbankatuwa, which should clearly be added to the standard itinerary of a ruined cities tour, has not been sign posted, well to guide visitors to the site. It also lacks even a basic on site panel to explain it's significance, and artifacts discovered.
Similar graves have also been discovered in many other sites around Lanka. Pomparippu in Wilpattu, Gurugalhinna in Gampola, Gedige in Anuradhapura etc. The ancient proto history of lanka, the tribes of queen Kuveni, who were in the island when Vijaya landed, were clearly a mature civilization, about which we have so far studied so little, as part of our ancient culture.
A good friend of mine told me that over 40 years ago, one his friends alleged, that when he applied to the Archaeology Department for a permit to do an excavation on land owned by him in Pomparippu, he was refused with the excuse that it was not in the best interest of the nation to investigate an civilization that maybe older than Vijaya. Maybe Lankans had a psychological barrier to be proud of this older civilization. I am glad that this is no longer seen as a problem and the protohistory of Lanka is being revealed in a burst of discoveries.
Writer is currently doing a postgraduate diploma in Museology at the Post Graduate Institute of Archeology (PGIAr) of University of Kelaniya.