Research

Research and Publications

All postgraduate students are engaged in research which is submitted in the form of research papers as course unit requirements. Masters and Doctoral theses are preserved and made available in the reference library. All members of the academic staff and many associated scholars are engaged in individual or team based research projects.

The PGIAR undertakes research projects and carries out research and documentation for institutions such as the Department of Archaeology, the Central Cultural Fund and the Department of National Museums. The research out put of the institute is published in local and foreign journals and as monographs.

New research in Archaeology

In keeping with its mission to enrich and expand the field of archaeology and related disciplines the PGIAR has a more than 20-year history of pioneering new developments in Sri Lankan archaeology, such as settlement archaeology, total archaeological landscape studies, urbanism, garden history, palaeoecology, the study of ancient iron production, archaeometallurgy, and opened up new directions in prehistory, the protohistoric transition, epigraphy, numismatics, art history, conservation and heritage management.

In this connection it has academic exchange with many other similar university and research institutions in Asia, America and Europe and directly or indirectly produced a total of 7 doctoral dissertations, and 85 masters theses. Even within the time-scale of this Corporate Plan, since 2006, PGIAR research projects have thrown new light on many aspects of Sri Lankan archaeology and related fields, such as:

1. The identification of sea-bed diatoms in tsunami detritus providing material for studying past climate change;
2. Evidence of cereal domestication (oats, barley in Horton Plains) from the retrieval and analysis of fossilized pollen;
3. Evidence of imported plant material (yellow lotus, pine) in protohistoric burial rituals (at Galsohonkanatta);
4. The discovery of 2000-3000 year old clay coffin burial practices (at Ranchamadama);
5. Ancient urban origins in southern Sri Lanka in the Lower Kirindi Oya basin);
6. New excavations, surveys and analysis of ancient, 2000 - year old iron production centres and settlements (Alakolaweva);
7. The reconstruction of the historical geography of the Malwatu Oya-Kala Oya basin;
8. The analysis of the archaeometallurgy of ancient Sri Lankan bronze sculpture;
9. The complete reading of the Sigiri graffiti including about 800 hitherto unread writings (PGIAR-initiated project, completed under other auspices);
10. New studies in traditional, transitional and contemporary art.

The recognition of the achievements of the PGIAR in innovative research in archaeology is reflected in the issue by the Philatelic Bureau of a stamp on ancient cereal domestication in Sri Lanka based on PGIAR research findings.