Archaeological sites in Vanni :

Thera wants them under Department

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Senior Archaeologist Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera has called upon President Mahinda Rajapaksa to handover the control of Buddhist archaeological sites in the cleared areas of the Vanni to the Archaeological Department.

The Thera said there are over 1,500 such sites to be found from the districts of Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar. These sites need immediate attention of archaeolgists as no proper archaeological study has been conducted on them for many decades.

"The authorities may have been discouraged by the presence of LTTE terrorists in these areas," he said. "Nevertheless, attempts have hardly been made by the department to investigate these sites on a firm footing."

Ven. Medhananda Thera said he has found ruins of some 1,538 tanks from Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Elephant Pass, Pooneryn, Omanthai and Mannar. "These tanks have been built by ancient kings of Sri Lanka before the decline of the Rajarata Civilization that existed around 1000 BC," he said.