Kurunegala (Sri Lanka): Archaeologists uncover ancient city wall

Dasun Edirisinghe

Source - http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=110760

Archaeologists had unearthed an ancient city wall believed to have been built during the Kurunegala Period north of the North Western Province Governor’s office in Kurunegala, Director General of Archaeology Dr Senarath Dissanayake said yesterday.

Dr. Dissanayake told The Island that according to the evidence unearthed so far there had been a boundary wall separating the ancient capital. "The excavations are conducted by archaeologists attached to the Wayamba Provincial Regional Archaeology office. They have uncovered about 67 metres of the wall which seem to have spread across the Ethugala rock. In a separate place another 35 metres of the wall was found near the present Chief Minister’s office. The wall has been covered by earth. The excavations have yielded evidence of the raw material and the technology used to build the wall."

It was too early to assign an accurate archaeological date to the find, but on the basis of historical sources it could be surmised that the wall was more than 800 years old, Dissanayake said. "We need to conduct sophisticated dating tests to decide how old the wall is. Our preliminary assumption is that this is a boundary wall. Further excavations and investigations will confirm whether it is an outer city wall. Investigations are being conducted to find out whether there is a moat outside this wall. For that purpose archaeologists will core the earth to extract soil samples to ascertain the ancient landscape during the Kurunegala period." The DG said funds allocated for the purpose for the current year had been spent and further excavations would resume once funds were received for the following year.