Thambarawa Wewa & Pre Historic Burial Site (තඹරව වැව හා ප්‍රාග් ඓතිහාසික සුසාන භූමිය)

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Thambarawa is a small ancient reservoir situated 8 km southeast of Tissa, on the western border of the Yala National Park. The area is partly paddy fields and covered in forest on the southern side. The reservoir was restored for the last time in 2023.

The bund of the Thambarawa Wewa is 640 meters long with spills on both sides of the bund.

Thambarawa Wewa Pre Historic Burial Site

On the southern side of the tank bund, there is an area with a scattering of ancient potsherds. It was identified as a settlement site during a 1999 site survey. To the north, a cluster of undressed granite stone slabs are observed on the ground. These slabs were in a half-buried state, but careful observation proved that these stone slabs were arranged in an almost square pattern. It was understood that they represented the iron-age cist-type burials.

Two excavations have been carried out on the site by a team led by prof Somadeva and reports;

Excavation at Cist Burial 1
The burial number 1 was excavated in parallel to the excavation at the ancient settlement site. The burial chamber was intact when the excavation was started. The slabs are planted vertically as the sidewalls of the cist are extremely short. This condition had created limited space inside the cist chamber. The funerary urn was destroyed owing to the inadequate space of the chamber. The urn was placed inside the cist chamber at a shallow depth of about 16cm. The extremely fragmented nature of the earthenware urn suggests two possible occurrences. The charcoal sample obtained from the inside urn proves that this cist had been disturbed at a later occasion3. The objective of the excavation was to obtain charcoal for dating. No artefacts were reported.

Excavation at Cist Burial 2
Another cist burial designated as cist number 2 (see Fig) was opened to obtain another sample of charcoal to obtain an extra date. The dimensions of burial 2 are 52×39 cm. It has an oblong shape. The capstone of the chamber was misplaced at the time the excavation was started. The height of the vertical walls is 30 cm. A large quantity of charcoal4 was collected about 25 cm below the surface. Several potsherds and a fragment of a glass bangle were recovered.

References

Somadeva, R. (2006). Urban Origins in Southern Sri Lanka (Doctoral thesis in archaeology at Uppsala University). Studies in Global Archaeology, Uppsala.

Also See

Map of the Thambarawa Wewa Reservoir

Please click on the button below to load the Dynamic Google Map (ගූගල් සිතියම් පහලින්)

Show Location (ගූගල් සිතියම)

The map above also shows other places of interest within a approximately 20 km radius of the current site. Click on any of the markers and the info box to take you to information of these sites

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Travelling to Thambarawa Wewa Reservoir

Route from Tissa to Thambarawa Wewa Reservoir

Through: Galle Road
Distance: 13 km
Travel time: 20 minutes
Driving directions: see on Google map

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Thambarawa Wewa & Pre Historic Burial Site (තඹරව වැව හා ප්‍රාග් ඓතිහාසික සුසාන භූමිය)
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Panda wewa, lying close to the ancient kingdom of Panduwasnuwara is believed to be the oldest man made reservior in the world built by King Panduwasdeva (504-474 BC) in 450 BC for irrigation as well as for daily use by the citizens of Panduwasnuwara. […]
Yoda Wewa at Tissamaharama (තිස්සමහාරාම යෝධ වැව)
It is believed that this tank was built by King Mahanaga in the late 3rd Century BC and the Duratissa Wewa mentioned in the ancient texts is the current Yodha Wewa in Tissamaharama. […]
Tissamaharama Tissa Wewa: The First Oblique Dam in the World (තිස්සමහාරාම තිස්ස වැව)
The Tissa Wewa is one of the largest ancient irrigation tanks constructed the 3rd Century is considered the first Oblique Dam in the world […]

References

Also See

Map of the Thambarawa Wewa Reservoir

Travelling to Thambarawa Wewa Reservoir

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