RASSL lecture: Maritime archaeology
View(s):‘Maritime Archaeology in Ancient Harbour at Ambalangoda’ will be the subject of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka lecture on Monday, May 30 at 5 p.m. at the at the Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium, No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 7.It will be delivered by Mahinda Karunarathna, former research officer, in Maritime Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology Unit, Central Cultural Fund and W.M Chandrarathne, Project Manager, Galle project, Officer-in-Charge, Maritime Archaeology Unit, Central Cultural Fund. The lecture is open to all.
Examining the role of the Ambalangoda harbour through maritime archaeology was the main objective of this research. On April 14, 1998, timbers and various types of artifacts had emerged from approximately 50m from the Ambalangoda harbour. In May, a maritime archaeology team (Department of Archaeology and volunteers) carried out a preliminary investigation in the harbour. Although, according to the eyewitnesses, the timbers lie parallel to the shore, the team could not ascertain the position of the wreck.
The Ambalangoda Harbour Development Project was carried out in 2007 and while digging the sea bed of the harbour, several types of artifacts, such as cowry shells (cypraea moneta), copper plates and ceramic had emerged. An Arabic inscription found on a copper plate which reveals an Arabic relationship is a very rare archaeological piece. Morphological characters of the Arabic letters indicate that they are probably 300 years old.
The Maritime Archaeology Unit (MAU) of the Central Cultural Fund (CCF) explored and excavated the site from March to April 2012 to unearth more archaeological information from the ship wreck.