Thehistoryfreek

24/01/2023

බලන කොටුවේ නිදනං හෑරීම!
Destruction of Balana Fort by Treasure hunters!

One would expect treasure hunting to take place in remote archaeological sites surrounded by miles of jungle. But here (a military site mind you) in a site with less than 100 meters to houses, there has been rampant treasure hunting going on.

Balana Fort comprises of an Upper Fort (also the main fort which is best preserved) and a Lower Fort which is covered by thick vegetation down the slope of the hill. It is this latter section that is the target of treasure hunters. I counted 6 old treasure pits with a new pit (seen here) which appears to be have been dug max a week prior.

This new pit is less than 15 meters from the road but covered by vegetation. The natural rock has been split using drills and a shaft with a diameter of 3 feet dug to approximately 15 feet!!!

The Balana fort is one of the few preserved Kandyan era fortifications and an important location in the struggle for survival against European colonization. It is extremely sad and shocking to see a military site, with Zero prospects of "treasure" being vandalized by ignorant people.

I have written officially to the authorities requesting this section be cleared and made accessible to visitors.

21/01/2023

The Balana Fort

The Balana pass was an important point on the ancient Colombo-Kandy road. Since the formation of the independent state of Kanda Uda Rata in the early 16th century, it served as an outpost, which was fortified at various times. Of the many fortifications and Battles that took place here, the 1592 battle between Kandy and Sitavaka and the 1602 battle between Kandy and the Portuguese are the most memorable. The first description of a fort is also found in the 1602 campaign.

The Portuguese themselves occupied Balana for a few years in the early 17th century during the rather ineffective reign of King Senerath.

The last description of a fortification at Balana is found in 1764.

It is not precisely known as to which period the current remains belong to. Chryshane Mendis and Dhanesh Wisumperuma have been conducting research at Balana since 2017 which has resulted in a precise ground plan of the upper fort, a mapping of the lower fort and a LiDAR map of the landscape. A 3D model of the fort for historical reconstruction is also in the works. The final research report will be published in due course.

16/01/2023

Balana Fort through LiDAR!!

LiDAR is an Airborne Laser Scanning technology which is used to create highly accurate topography models of the landscape. Utilizing the Survey Department Lidar data, I was able to create a Digital Elevation Model of the landscape of Balana for archaeological surveying and interpretation.

This is apparently the first time Lidar data was used as a Surveying methodology for archaeology in Sri Lanka. The results have been published in the Archaeology department National Symposium proceedings 2022. A easy to read article was also published in Archaeology.lk See below for link.

The lidar analysis showed a hitherto unknown feature of the fort...a ditch surrounding the ramparts which is covered by vegetation.

More on Balana to come....

https://www.archaeology.lk/lidar-and-archaeology/

17/03/2022

03/03/2022

Researchers have used computer algorithm that sorts through high-quality genome sequences from ancient individuals, including three Neanderthals and a Denisovan, and thousands of modern humans, to create a family tree for all of humanity.

archaeology.org/news/10384-220228-human-family-tree

(Wohns et al. 2022)

28/02/2022

27/02/2022

Zamani: Preserving Sri Lanka's heritage

"The Zamani team, comprising five people, documented the site as well as the vatadage in nearby Medirigiriya during an eight-day field campaign in March 2019. The documentation consisted of meshed and textured 3D digital models of sixteen structures based on laser-scanned data and photography. Ground plans, sections and elevations were derived from the 3D scans. Following the documentation policy of the Zamani team, ortho-images as well as panorama tours of both sites were produced.

The objective of this project was the creation of digital records of these important heritage sites as well as the provision of data for site management, possible future restoration and conservation interventions and as a means to support tourism.

Like laser scanning, photogrammetry has the advantage over mechanical survey methods that it is contact-free, something which is especially important for the survey of heritage sites.

Photogrammetry creates permanent records for future generations and its relevance for the preservation of tangible cultural heritage is beyond question.

The team used extensive drone and terrestrial photography, in combination with laser scans to create high resolution textured, meshed models. The resulting models show high detail of geometry and colour, which can be used for precise measurements without a visit to the site.

RealityCapture was a great addition to their pipeline as it provides them with the capability of combining photography with laser scanning and allowed them large data volumes while generating models of high quality and detail. All of this was a significant improvement in their working pipeline.

EQUIPMENT USED IN SRI LANKA:
2 terrestrial laser scanners: Z&F Imager 5010x and 5016
1 hand-held laser scanner: Leica BLK360
1 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS): Trimble GNSS R8 RTK (Real Time Kinematic) GPS, which gives us centimetre-point accuracy in real-time
1 DSLR Camera: Nikon D7200
1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV): DJI Phantom 4 pro drone


Extract from:
https://www.capturingreality.com/Article-Zamani-SriLanka-Project

18/02/2022

The loss of a Second World War monument/memorial. Such heritage is almost completely overlooked in Sri Lanka at present.

18/02/2022

" An incredible quantity of archaeological reports are stored in digital archives. If you want to search for information in them, you have to do this manually. And that is a real chore. Archaeologist Alex Brandsen has now used deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to develop a search engine that can search very precisely through all the data. His Ph.D. defense is on 15 February."

An incredible quantity of archaeological reports are stored in digital archives. If you want to search for information in them, you have to do this manually. And that is a real chore. Archaeologist Alex Brandsen has now used deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to develop a search engin...