Siran Upendra Deraniyagala (Archaeological Department,
Government of Sri Lanka)
submitted: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 21:09:32 +0600
Siran Upendra Deraniyagala
Director General
Archaeological Department
Sir Marcus Fernando Road
Colombo 7, SRI LANKA
phone: 94/1-695255
fax: 94/1-696250
email: asderan@sri.lanka.net
url: http://www.deraniyagala.de
Description of work:
M.A. Cambridge University; Postgraduate Diploma, Institute of
Archaeology, London University; Ph.D. Harvard University.
Since 1992 Director-General, Archaeological Survey Department of
the Government of Sri Lanka. This position heads the Archaeological
Heritage Management of the entire country and its main duties
comprise:
1. Formulation of National Archaeological Policy.
2. Inventorisation of archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
3. Protection of archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
4. Conservation of archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
5. Maintenance of archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
6. Research on the archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
7. Enhancing public awareness of the archaeological heritage of Sri Lanka.
8. Integrating National Archaeological Policy with policy planning
at national and international levels.
9. General Administration and Financial Administration of the Department.
Research Interests
1. Prehistory of South Asia, with specific reference to Sri Lanka
2. Protohistoric Early Iron Age of Sri Lanka
3. Quaternary environment of South Asia, with specific reference to Sri
Lanka
4. Early Historic archaeology of South Asia, with specific reference to
Sri Lanka
5. Systematics of stone tool classification
6. Systematics of pottery classification
Publications (key publications marked with asterisk)
1968 - The Indian Asil, pt. 1. Grit and Steel: 23-4,41.
1971 - Prehistoric Ceylon: a summary in 1969. Ancient Ceylon
1:3-46.
1971 - Archaeological explorations in Ceylon, pt. 1: The Horton
Plains. Spolia Zeylanica 32(1):13-23.
1971 - Stone implements from a Balangoda Culture site in Ceylon:
Bellan-bandi Palassa. Ancient Ceylon 1:47-89.
1971 - Stone implements from Ceylon, pt. 1: Acheulean handaxes, a
Late Stone Age point and stone celts. Spolia
Zeylanica 32(1): 5-12.
1972 - (Joint author with W.G. Solheim) - Archaeological survey
to investigate Southeast Asian prehistoric presence in
Ceylon. Ancient Ceylon occasional paper no. 1.
1972 - (Joint paper with K.A.R. Kennedy) - Bellan-bandi Palassa
1970: a Mesolithic burial site in Ceylon. Ancient Ceylon
2:18-47.
1972 - Archaeological explorations in Ceylon, pt. 2: Kollan
Kanatta, Vilpattu. Ancient Ceylon 2:1-17.
1972* - The citadel of Anuradhapura, 1969: excavations in the Gedige
area. Ancient Ceylon 2:48-169.
1976 - The geomorphology and pedology of three sedimentary
formations containing a Mesolithic industry in the
lowlands of the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), 1972.
Ecological backgrounds of South Asian prehistory; 11-27,
Kennedy, K.A.R. and G. Possehl ed. Cornell
University: S. Asia Program.
1980 - Prehistoric research in Sri Lanka, 1885-1980.
P.E.P.Deraniyagala commemoration volume:152-107.
Gunawardhana, T., P.L. Prematilleke and R. Silva ed.
Colombo: Lake House Investments.
1981 - Was there a Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) in Sri
Lanka? Ancient Ceylon 4:143-56
1984* - A theoretical framework for the study of Sri Lanka's
prehistory. Ancient Ceylon 5:81-104.
1984* - A classificatory system for ceramics in Sri Lanka.
Ancient Ceylon 5:109-14.
1984 - Mesolithic stone tool technology at 28,000 BC in Sri Lanka.
Ancient Ceylon 5:105-8.
1985 - (Joint author with D. Sengupta et al.) - Thermoluminescence
studies on beach dunes. In National Symposium
on Theory and Practice of Thermally stimulated
Luminescence and Related Phenomena, Feb.8-10,
1984, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. MS.
1985 - (Joint author with J. Bouzek) - Tessons de vases
Hellenistiques trouves en Sri Lanka. Bulletin de
Correspondance Hellenique 109:589-96.
1985 - The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an outline. Festschrift 1985 -
James Rutnam: 14-21. Amerasinghe, A.R.B. and
S.J.Sumanesekera Banda ed. Sri Lanka: UNESCO.
1986 - (Second author with A.K. Singhvi et al.) -
Thermoluminescence dating of Quaternary red sand beds:
a case study of coastal dunes in Sri Lanka. Earth
and Planetary Science Letters 80:139-44.
1986 - Excavations in the citadel of Anuradhapura: Gedige 1984.
Ancient Ceylon 6:39-48.
1986 - Pleistocene coastal sediments in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka:
chronology, palaeo-environment and technology. Ancient
Ceylon 6:49-62.
1987 - The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an outline. Man and
Environment 11:99-108.
1987 - The prehistory of Sri Lanka. Kusumanjali, new
interpretation of Indian art and culture:
C. Sivaramamurthi commemoration volume 1:121-4.
M.S. Nagaraja Rao ed. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.
1988 - The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an ecological perspective,
1st ed. Ph.D. dissertation, Anthropology
Department. Harvard. Michigan, Ann Arbor
University Microfilms. Int., No. 8820579.
1989 - (Joint author with .A.R. Kennedy) - Fossil remains of
28,000-year- old hominids from Sri Lanka. Current
Anthropology 30(3):294-8.
1989 - Contribution, in H.D.Sankalia: reminiscences by foreign
academics. Man and Environment 14(2):149.
1990 - The proto- and early historic radiocarbon chronology
of Sri Lanka. Ancient Ceylon 12 (1st ed.):251-92.
1990 - The prehistoric chronology of Sri Lanka. Ancient Ceylon
12 (1st ed.):211-50.
1990 - Radiocarbon dating of early Brahmi script in Sri Lanka:
600-500 BC. Ancient Ceylon 11 (1st ed.):149-58.
1990* - The excavations branch, 1968-1990. Archaeological
Department centenary (1890-1990), commemorative
series 1:203-18. Sri Lanka: Archaeological Survey
Department.
1991* - Man and environment during the Pleistocene in Sri
Lanka. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific
Prehistory Association 10:12-22.
1992* - The prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective
(revised. ed). Archaeological Survey Department of Sri
Lanka: memoir 8. 813 pp.
1993 - Archaeology in Sri Lanka: strategy and tactics 1993. In
Proceedings of 5th South Asian Archaeological Congress,
Male, Maldives: 73-75. Male: National Centre for
Linguistics and Historical Research.
1996 - Excavation and research. In Monuments and sites, Sri
Lanka: 55-78. Colombo: International Council on
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Sri Lanka
1996* - Pre- and protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka. In
Proceedings of the 13th International Congress of
Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, Forli,
Italy vol. 5: 277-85. Forli: A.B.A.C.O.
1996* - Monuments and sites: the archaeological heritage of Sri
Lanka. In Monuments and Sites, Sri Lanka: 1-6.
Colombo : International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS), Sri Lanka.
In press - Administration reports of the excavations branch, 1979,
1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985. In Administration
Reports of the Archaeological Commissioner (1979-85).
In press* - (Joint-author with M. Abeyratne) - Radiocarbon chronology
of Iron Age and Early Historic Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka: a
revised age estimate by M. Taddei (ed.) South Asian
Archaeology 1997.
Keywords:
South Asia, Sri Lanka, Archaeology, Prehistory, Protohistory, Early
History, Quaternary environment, Lithic systematics, Ceramic systematics.