Galle Face Shangrila Hotel yard ... a cemetery of foreigners years ago; skeletons uncovered provide testimony

Galle Face Shangrila Hotel yard ... a cemetery of foreigners years ago; skeletons uncovered provide testimony

Some parts of bones of dead bodies were discovered from the construction site of Shangrila Hotel close to Galle Face, Colombo last May 11th. According to court and Archaelogical inspections conducted in that connection it has been revealed that the location concerned was used as a cemetery during British Colonial times.

When work was in progress last May 11th at the site to dig a drain during work in operation at this

place, excavations revealed parts of human bones, metal handles and parts of coffins as well. An investigation was launched on suspicion to find whether these items had any links with some crime and as no apparent reason was forthcoming indicating signs of a crime, Fort Magistrate and Additional District Judge Miss Lanka Jayaratna yesterday said that legal proceedings in relation to human parts of bones would be brought to a close. She concluded that parts of human bones so discovered according to court medical reports could be deduced as very old human parts of bones and that there are factors which go to prove that those are parts of human bones belonging to the British Colonial period. The magistrate further mentioned that as metal handles used for coffins and parts of coffins too were found together with these human parts of bones, such indications provide factors that in days of old there had been a cemetery in existence. According to surveys carried out by Professor of Archaeology, Mr. Raj Somadeva in connection with the incident under reference, it was deduced that in association with factors deduced and sources of Archaelogical primary and secondary sources and also according to Anthropological documentary evidence it could be inferred that the site where these parts of bones were located could be concluded as a place where a cemetery has been in existence.