Hans Joachim WEISSHAAR, Heidrun SCHENK
DAI, Berlin
The Citadel of Tissamaharama (Sri Lanka): the development of a city and the Indian Ocean trade.
The excavation at the Citadel of Tissamaharama is a joint project of the Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka and the German Archaeological Institute.
During the „second urbanization“ in South Asia new settlers arrived in Sri Lanka and urban centers emerged. The Citadel of Tissamaharama, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Ruhuna, was built as a planned structure in the late 5th century BC by a new population that brought horses and iron technology.
Ruhuna had close connections to the Indian Subcontinent right from the beginning as illustrated by pottery (at first Plain Grey Ware and consequently followed by NBP, Rouletted Ware, Wheeler types 10 & 18), and semiprecious stones (carnelian). It was, however, not directly linked to the pre-Periplus trade and the maritime commercial activities of the first centuries AD. It benefitted from intermediate trade as indicated by Parthian pottery, Early Roman amphorae, and coins.
A direct trade can be seen after 300 AD when Roman coins, Sasanian and Islamic glazed wares and Mesopotamian Torpedo jars reached the island as is evidenced in Tissamaharama.
The maritime trade – either long distance or coastal – raised the economy in the south in early medieval times. There is an interesting contrast between the political centre of Anuradhapura in the Northeast of the island and the commercial centre of Ruhuna in the South.
