Former Director-General of Archaeology, Sri Lanka. Dr. Siran Deraniyagala passes away
COLOMBO : Dr. Siran Deraniyagala, a Prehistorian known for
his work across the world, has passed away on Tuesday (5).
Dr. Siran Upendra Deraniyagala was the former
Director-General of Archaeology, Sri Lanka.
In 1968 Deraniyagala discovered ancient human burials in the
Fa Hien Cave.
Dr Daraniyagala was born in 1942, Dr. Deraniyagala completed
his school education at St. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia. He received his BA and
MA degrees in Architecture and Sanskrit at Cambridge University and went on to
do postgraduate studies in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in
London. At the Institute he qualified with distinction and was awarded the
prestigious Gordon Childe Prize, as one of two best all-round students in all
fields of archaeology. He joined the Archaeological Survey Department of Sri
Lanka in 1968 as Assistant Commissioner in charge of scientific excavations
Dr. Deraniyagala's tenure as Director General of Archaeology
(1992 to 2001) has been one of the most significant epochs in modernizing Sri
Lankan archaeology in the state sector. He prepared an agenda restructuring
theoretical, applied and management archaeology at the professional level by
coordinating several 'thrust' programs for this purpose. Dr. Deraniyagala was
responsible in the introduction of a radial shift in the Antiquities Ordinance
in 1998 and it vested greater power with the Director General of Archaeology
and formalized Archaeological Impact Assessments
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