Abstract:
Steel was being produced in Sri Lanka since 300 BC by furnaces blown by the monsoon winds,
and the protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 to 600 BC. In March 2010, a
group of researchers from the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of the University of
Kelaniya, discovered a mound of iron slag in the flood prone area of the Kunjalkalkulam
Reservoir in Batticaloa District in Sri Lanka. The GPS location of the particular site is obtained
as (08°13'1.3'' N: 081° 24'20.4'' E) which is situated 39ft amsl.
This particular site is about 10x10m2 in size and located between the Second Singha Regiment in
Maankerny in Kunjalkalkulam and the Kunjalkalkulam Reservoir. Other than iron slag, pieces of
a furnace were also discovered. The sizes of iron slag were less than 50cm. Pieces of iron slag
were brought to the laboratory and tested for magnetism, which was proved. Also found were
iron ore along the jeep track which extends from Madurankuliya to Omaliyamadu village. It was
also discovered that for the construction of this particular jeep track, materials had been brought
from another place close to this village. According to the visual inspections those iron ore were
similar to Magnetite (FeO3). This preliminary investigation shows evidence of an iron smelting
industry in this particular area. Further investigations would be needed.
