Excavation site in Galle:

Site, a cemetery during colonial rule - official

Mahinda P Liyanage, Galle Daily News correspondent

Archaeological Department excavations director Dr Nimal Perera who made a field trip to the archaeological excavation site on Church Street of the Galle-Fort World Heritage Site, believed to a burial ground during the Portuguese and Dutch periods in Sri Lanka, confirmed that it to be an early cemetery during the country's colonial rule.

He visited the excavation site on Monday.

The Daily News on December 12 reported about the discovery of skeletal remains by research officers of the Galle Archaeological Department providing historical background of the site.

Dr Perera commenting on his observations on the remains of human bones and fragments of used age old utilities such as pots and plates etc unearthed during the excavations, said they might have belonged to the Dutch period in Sri Lanka.

He said to deliver a solid idea about the site, it needed further proper and systematic excavations and subsequent thorough research by experts in the field for which he would initiate a more scientific research plan in relation to the latest archeological site at the World Heritage monument in Galle.

According to early archives in relation to the Portuguese and Dutch rules in Sri Lanka, the site initially had been a Portuguese cemetery ( 1506 to 1640) and thereafter during 1646 to 1860 a Dutch graveyard named Groot Kerk Korherf which implies Grand Church Cemetery belonged to the then Dutch Consistory.