The harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world, its entrance is guarded by two headlands. The Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the English, each held it in sea-battles to shape the history of Sri Lanka.
Kalyanaraman
Ancient harbour discovered in Trincomalee
An excavation in the Illankathurai area in Trincomalee has lead to the discovery of the remains of an ancient harbour that had global relations in its time.
The excavation had been carried out under the supervision of Senior Lecturer of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of Keleniya University, Prof. Arjuna Thanthilage.
Prof. Arjuna Thanthilage stated that they had discovered remains of goods and a large amount of beads belonging to foreign nations.
Speaking to Newsfirst, Prof. Thanthilage said that they speculate the harbour might have been constructed because of a copper deposition in the area.http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/02/ancient-harbor-discovered-trincomalee/21260
Ancient harbour found in Trincomalee
February 21, 2014 6:11 am
By Chrishanthi Christopher
An ancient harbour, dating back to 800 AD, has been discovered in Trincomalee by the Department of Archaeology during one of its field expeditions.
Head of the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, Kelaniya, Dr. Anura Thantilage, told Ceylon Today that, during a field search for ancient copper metallurgy, they had come across evidence to indicate the existence of an international port in Seruwila. "We found ruins of stone pillars and large ponds indicative of a port having functioned here," he said.
Dr. Thantilage said the artefacts found during the excavation, adjoining the port site, indicated that they were copper productions dating back to the zero AD era. "We also found Chinese ceramics, foreign glass and mineral beads which pointed to the trading that took place during that era," he added.
Dr. Thantilage said that carbon dating has been done on the copper finds and it has been proved that it belongs to the zero AD Century. "The copper may have been used for the production of weapons and statutes during that time," he said, and added that the Weragala and Abhayagiri stupas, which had belonged to that era, may have the copper metal in them.
Dr. Thantilage said that the copper, which is in the form of copper magnetite, is very important locally and regionally, as geographically, the metal is not available up to the middle regions of South India. However, he said that the metal at the site has been completely exhausted and advanced technology is needed to extract whatever that might be remaining.
http://www.ceylontoday.lk/16-56601-news-detail-ancient-harbour-found-in-trincomalee.html