ANCIENT IRON SMELTING TECHNOLOGY AND THE SETTLEMENT PATTERN IN THE KIRI OYA BASIN IN THE DRY ZONE OF SRI LANKA By ROSE SOLANGAARACHCHI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011 1 © 2011 Rose Solangaarachchi 2 To my beloved parents Solangaarachchige Don Joseph Solangaarachchi Sembukuttiarachchige Ambrosia Silva & To my beloved aunt Rev. Sister Mary Julia Silva 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The success of the project for this dissertation was possible through the hard work and cooperation of the members of survey and excavation teams, who came from the University of Kelaniya, the Central Cultural Fund and Alakolavava, Pollattava, Vavala, and surrounding villages. Villagers at Alakolavava and Vavala, where I spent most time during my PhD field work, as well as where I conducted explorations and excavations since my undergraduate years, always welcomed me to their villages, gave me protection as one of the members in their community, gave their support unconditionally and trusted me. I would like to thank all of them for their support during the field research. I am very grateful for the Wenner-Gren Foundation of the USA for providing financial assistance through a PhD dissertation fieldwork grant for this research project and granting the Wadsworth Fellowship for four years to cover expenses at University of Florida. I thank Dr. Pamela Smith at the Wenner-Gren Foundation for her cooperation in many ways. I also thank the University of Florida for awarding me financial assistance through the Department of Anthropology by granting me tuition scholarships and teaching assistantships. I am grateful to the National Center for Advanced Studies (NCAS) in Sri Lanka for providing financial assistance to cover some of my expenses during the second field season in 2005. My sincere thanks go to the chair of my PhD committee, Professor Peter Schmidt, for his encouragement and guidance at all stages in the development of my PhD program and field project. I appreciate his cooperation with me and his patience during the long-term writing process. Accepting me as one of his students, he gave me the opportunity to gain a different academic experience under the umbrella of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida. I also offer my sincere thank to the founder and the former director of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology and the former vice chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, Professor 4 Senake Bandaranayake, I gained academic inspiration for archaeology in my home country Sri Lanka. He gave me support, encouragement and the opportunity to gain better wide field experience in archaeology and to develop academic enthusiasm for iron technology. As he often mentioned, it has been my honor to be his first female student who earned the PhD degree in archaeology. I also want to thank members of the PhD committee: Professor Michael Heckenberger and Professor Kenneth Sassaman at the Department of Anthropology, and Professor Abeheim Goldman at the Department of Geography of University of Florida for their guidance, encouragement and cooperation at all stages in my studies. I appreciate the support of Professor Allan Burns, the chair of the department and Professors Steven Brandt, John Krigbaum and Michael Warren. Ms. Karen Jones and Ms. Patricia King who always provided continuous support. I also express my appreciation for the help of following people: Ms. Saleena Robinson, Ms. Rhonda Riley and Ms. Juanita Bagnall, graduate program assistants at the department; Ms. Maud Fraser at the International Center; all staff members at the Applications Support Center at the University of Florida for their help for formatting. I also thank Professor David Killick at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Arizona, for the archaeometallurgical training that he provided me, when I was there in Fall 2002 as a visiting student. Ms. Jeanne Weismantal providing comments and editorial assistance within a short time-frame. I express my appreciation for the support provided by Dr. Mats Mogren, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Lund in Sweden during the Settlement Archaeology Research Collaboration Project from 1988-1992. I thank Professor of Chemistry at the Stockholm University Dag Noreus and his students for their assistance in analyzing the chemical and physical processes of the furnaces at Dehigaha-ala-kanda and Dikyaya-kanda. 5 I also wish to express my appreciation for the support of my friends: Venesa Bravo, Florie Burgarin, Louisa Chang, Matthew Curtis, Lucas Fortini, Mussa Idiris, Paula Mejia, Alicia Peon, Rosana Resende, Alex Rödlach, Renzo Rosales, Zelalem Teka, and Jonathan Walz of the University of Florida, Thomas Fenn and Lara Larg of the University of Arizona. Thanks to all of you for your remarkable friendship. I would like to thank Mrs. Jane Schmidt for her support and Ms. Susan Stewart, manager and the staff of the Sun Bay for providing assistance while I was in Gainesville. In my home institution, the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PGIAR) at the University of Kelaniya, I thank former director Mr. Sirinimal Lakdusinghe and the present director Prof. Nimal de Silva for providing leave for my study. I thank former registrar Mr. H. A. Dhanapala for helping to complete administration work within the short period of time before I left for the USA. My very special thanks to Asoka Perera for his assistance in surveying, supplying materials and being always available without any hesitation, when help was needed during the fieldwork seasons from 2004-2006. He gave invaluable assistance in GIS mapping and continuous support from the beginning of the project until completing my dissertation writing. Inoka Jayasena at the library of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology helped me organize post-fieldwork analyses, conduct library research and electronically provide articles without delay. I also thank my friends and colleagues Arjuna Thantilage and Gamini Adikari at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, Mangala Katugampola and Sriyani Haturusinghe at the Department of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya for agreeing to cover my academic duties and signing my leave papers without hesitating. Arjuna deserves special thanks for being at the field the very first week of the project and helping preliminary preparations. Ramani Vithana helped print catalogue cards for the project. I thank security officers at the PGIAR; Mr. 6 Saurjah (late), Mr. R.K. Peter, Mr. Lionel Perera, and Mr. T.D. Andrew for their assistance, protection and providing a late day “unu appa with katta sambol” dinner while I was spending long days at the institute. Mr. Jayarathna at the Department of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya for his assistance during my undergraduate years. I also dearly appreciate for the constant support of my friend Nilu Abeyrathne for her friendship and support. I thank those who assisted my research in Sri Lanka. Professor Prishantha Gunawardhana, Head of the Department of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya assigned students to assist me in fieldwork. Prof. Dayananda Amerasekera, Dr. Siran Deraniyagala, former Director General of the Archaeology Department; Dr. Roland Silva, former Director General of the Central Cultural Fund; Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne, present Director General of the Central Cultural Fund; Dr. Senarath Disanayake, Present Archaeological Commissioner of Sri Lanka and Prof. Jagath Weerasinghe provided support. Dr. Malini Dias, former Director of Inscriptions at the Department of Archaeology deserves special thanks for providing the Vavala inscription reading without any hesitation. I acknowledge the guidance in pottery typology of Mr. J.A.D.S. Jayaweera (late), the former Project Manager of the Jethavanaya Cultural Triangle Project. His unexpected sudden death in April 2009 marked a great loss in the archaeological ceramic studies in Sri Lanka. I would like to thank Mr. Cyril Hewawitharana, former Project Manager of the Sigiriya Cultural Triangle Project for providing assistance. I also appreciate the support of Ms. Kalyani Hemamala former research officer during my early research programs in Sigiriya. Mr. Jinadasa Welikumbura gave me great help in surveying and mapping. I appreciate the hard work of my research excavation assistants, especially Priyantha Pushpakumara, Harendralal Namalgamuwa, Prageeth Algiriya, Suranjith Karunasekera, Shehan 7 Wijegunawardhana, Hansika Solangaarachchi and the team of village assistants, especially A. G. Rathnayake and S.S. Somarathna (a.k.a. Raja) and to J.A. Karunarathna. All showed great endurance during the field season of the project from 2004 to 2006. I am grateful to Rev. Nalande Jinarama Thero at the Vavala Purana Raja Maha Viharaya for providing permission and guidance to conduct excavations at the Vavala monastery complex and for the help provided when we were at Vavala. Mr. L. Wilson, principal of the Vavala College cooperated at all stages and helped me organize workshops for college students. Mr. Samarasekera of Dikyaya and Mr. T.M. Dingiri Banda (a.k.a. Vanni Mama) of Kosgaha-ala- ulpotha gave me permission to conduct excavations on their farm lands. I am grateful to several departmental people in Sri Lanka. Mr. H. D. Ratnayake, Deputy Director (Research and Training) and S. R. B. Dissanayake Acting Deputy Director (Research and Training) at the Wild Life Department cooperated in providing permission