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Ibbankatuwa Ancient Burial Grounds
Of the cist burial sites, the most thoroughly investigated so far has been at Ibbankatuva, first identified by the Archaeological Department in 1970. As a result of a number of excavations carried out in late 1983 and early 1984 and again between 1988 - 1990, the Ibbankatuva complex may today be considered the best investigated proto-historic burial complex in the country to date. The site has been carbon-dated to a period ranging from 700 - 400 B.C. According to Raj Somadeva, Senior Lecturer, Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology. (PGIAR) University of Kelaniya, the Ibbankatuva complex covers an area of about 1 square km and contains 42 clusters of cist tombs. He estimates that each cluster contains about 10 tombs. Most of the excavations have been confined to one of the central clusters, namely cluster 21 which contains a total of 19 cists. A number of tombs were found intact, with the capstones in place. Large terra-cotta urns containing cremated remains and grave goods have been found in many of the tombs. Cremated remains have also been found within the cists as well as in the area between the cists. Somadeva, who has been intimately connected with the excavations notes that the grave goods found included a variety of pottery, iron, copper and gold artefacts. Bead material made of onyx, agate, carnelian, quartz glass and terra-cotta have also been found. As Somadeva notes, the first three minerals do not occur naturally in Sri Lanka and appear to have been imported from India, indicating that the Ibbankatuva folk had established trade relations with the mainland. Iron was evidently produced locally as iron slag has been discovered at the site. Somadeva believes that the Ibbankatuva folk had reached a state where some sections were distinguished on a Socio-economic basis. He points out that the largest cist burial excavated at Ibbankatuva has yielded gold and imported beads, besides a symbol inscribed on the capstone while smaller burials (moderate-sized cists) have revealed less pots than those of the larger burial as well as terra-cotta beads (probably made locally) and iron and copper. Yet another burial has revealed none of these items, containing merely the ashes of the deceased. Somadeva also believes that the Ibbankatuva dwellers may have engaged in agricultural activities including wet rice cultivation. As evidence he points to the discovery of a small artificial reservoir to the east of the cemetery. The reservoir, less than 46 metres away from the cemetery is of a crude style and evidently obtained water from rain and from the rainwater gushing down from a nearby mountain slope. Somadeva also points out that considering the fact that there existed some level of social stratification implying a prosperous community that had surplus food production it is not unlikely that they practiced agriculture. Further, he notes that a few husks of edible rice (oryza sativa) have been found at the site. Somadeva connects the distinct symbols or letters incised on the capstones to the graffiti marks occuring in the Black and Red Ware pottery of the early burial complexes such as Pomparippu. He also believes that a symbol found in one of the capstones is connected to a Brahmi letter having the phonetic value "60" found in an inscription at Kandalama, Dambulla. He also postulates a connection between the cemetery and the rock shelter complex at Dambulla situated 3 km north-east of Ibbankatuva. The complex which is amongst the largest of the Buddhist monastic settlements of the early historic period contains numerous lithic inscriptions in Prakrit (middle Indo-Aryan, the ancestor of the modern-day Sinhala speech) which are dateable to c. 3rd century B.C. - 1st century A.C. It is possible that the cist burial folk were an early Aryan-speaking people, perhaps the ancestors of the present-day Sinhalese, as is suggested by the epigraphic evidence. Besides cremation was an ancient Indo-Aryan custom. It is not known what the connection between the urnfield folk and those practicing cist burials was although the two belong to different environments " the former based largely in the coastal area and the latter primarily concentrated in the Red Earths Zone of the North Central plains " there may have existed some socio-cultural relations between the two. The excavations so far conducted represent only a fraction of the burials found in the island. Many more need to be excavated. Others perhaps may be lying silently beneath the sands, long forgotten by man. Progress in excavation has been slow and it may take many more years to uncover the country"s past in greater detail. Then perhaps we would be able to get a better idea of the ethnic composition and social life as it existed in ancient Lanka
Source : http://www.lankalibrary.com
Updated
March 19, 2007
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