Friday, 21st November 2014
by Dasun Edirisinghe
The Archeology Department has so far discovered 341 ancient sites neglected due to the war in the Northern Province.
Director General of the Department Dr. Senarath Dissanayake said that of them 125 sites had been found in the Mullaitivu District, 68 in the Vavuniya District, 66 in the Mannar District, 15 in the Kilinochchi District and 67 in the Jaffna District.
Action had been taken to explore the Sapumalgaskada and Ruwanmaduwa areas in the Vavuniya District, Dr. Dissanayake said, noting that they already discovered 19 sites which had stone inscriptions, caves, Buddha statues belonging to the Anuradhapura Period and replicas of the Buddha’s footprints in the Vavuniya District.
Dr. Dissanayake said those places would be declared as national heritage sites prior to conservation.
Head of the team engaged in excavations in the Vavuniya District, Kalpa Asanga, said that they had launched the programme to protect the archaeological sites from possible damage due to the rapid development projects in the Northern Province.
The programme is implemented under funding from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he added.
From : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=114554
