Ibbankatuwa megalithic burial site

Ibbankatuwa Ibbankatuwa Ibbankatuwa

The Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Tombs is an ancient burial site located near Ibbankatuwa Wewa in Galewela DS, Sri Lanka. The site is thought to belong to the megalithic prehistoric and protohistoric periods of Sri Lanka and is considered one of the several ancient burial sites that have been found in the country. The site is situated on the Kurunegala - Dambulla road approximately five kilometers southwest of Dambulla town. Currently, the tomb site has been designated an archaeological protected site in Sri Lanka.

The Ibbankatuwa Burial Site extending over a land area of 13 hectares comprises of stone cist type burial graves of the Megalithic tradition. Dr. Raja de Silva, a former Archaeological Commissioner in 1970, conducted an excavation for the first time in the Ibbankatuwa Burial Site. Since then during the latter part of the decade of the 80s, a group of local and foreign institutions comprising the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, the Central Cultural Fund and the KAVA (The Kommission fur Algemeine und Vergleichende Archaeologie) of Germany that conducted two excavations in 1988 and 1990, discovered a cluster of 21burial chambers and the radio carbon dating of the charcoal found at the site determined that the site belonged to 600 B.C.

An investigation of the Ibbankatuwa Burial Site was conducted by the Central Cultural Fund in 2015. The investigation entailed the excavation of an area of 10m x 10m, just west of the cluster of 21 burial chambers. The earth was removed and the site revealed the existence of 47 additional burials, of which 26 were stone urns containing the ashes of the dead to be known as stone urn burials.

These burials comprised of chambers; some circular and others rectangular, made of simple granite slabs. The chambers, some of which were covered with capstone, contained various sizes of earthen receptacles, big and small, 2-10 in numbers having ashes of the dead. The earthen receptacles of various sizes and shapes were of two types in red or black clay. In addition metal implements made of copper and iron, beads of different shapes and made of a variety of material were found within them.

Of the 47 burials discovered from the excavation, 21 were earthenware urns containing the ashes of the dead. These burials are called Urn Burials. The Urns were either big or small and were made of clay with some having capping lid cum bowl. Few smaller containers were discovered in some of these receptacles.

The Ibbakatuwa site is by far the biggest burial site discovered in Sri Lanka. From the spread of the cist graves, the burial site is roughly about 700m x 400m in extent. The human settlement discovered in Polwatta, a site not far from the burial site is the first such combination of human settlement and its complementary burial site of the Early Iron Age, found in this country.

Ibbankatuwa Ibbankatuwa Ibbankatuwa

About Matale District

Matale is a town in the hill country of Sri Lanka. The Knuckles Mountain Range is a special landmark of Matale.The Matale administrative district also contains the historic Sigiriya rock castle, Aluvihare Temple and Dambulla Cave Temple . Surrounding the town are the Knuckles foothills called Wiltshire. It is a mainly agricultural area, where tea, rubber, vegetable and spice cultivation dominate.

The Aluvihare Temple, on the North side of the town, is the historic location where the Pali Canon was first written down completely in text on ola (palm) leaves. Situated near Aluvihare are numerous monastery caves, some of which exhibit fine frescoes.

About Central Province

The Central Province of Sri Lanka consists primarily of mountainous terrain. The province has an area of 5,674 km², and a population of 2,421,148. Some major towns include Kandy, Gampola (24,730), Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela. The population is a mixture of Sinhalese, Tamil and the Moors.

Both the hill capital Kandy and the city of Nuwara Eliya are located within the Central Province as well as Sri Pada. The province produces much of the famous Ceylon tea, planted by the British in the 1860s after a devastating disease killed all the coffee plantations in the province. Central Province attracts many tourists, with hill station towns such as Kandy, Gampola, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya. Temple tooth or Dalada maligawa is the main sacred place in Centrel province.

The climate is cool, and many areas about 1500 meters often have chilly nights. The western slopes are very wet, some places having almost 7000 mm of rain per year. The eastern slopes are parts of the mid-dry zone as it is receiving rain only from North-Eastern monsoon. The Temperatures range from 24°C at Kandy to just 16°C in Nuwara Eliya, which is located 1,889 m above sea level. The highest mountains in Sri Lanka are located in the Central Province. The terrain is mostly mountainous, with deep valleys cutting into it. The two main mountain regions are the central massif and the Knuckles range to the east of Kandy.

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