Vortrag von Prof Dr. Nuwan Abeywardana
(Head, Department of Archaeology &Heritage Management, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka)
The Tank Systems of the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka: Evolution, Management and Traditional Knowledge
Donnerstag, 21.11.2024, Beginn: 11 Uhr
Abteilung für Asiatische und Islamische Kunstgeschichte, Adenauerallee 10, ÜR (EG)
https://zoom.us/j/97239799492?pwd=c5CvFpbJTnkkFlob5axIMbAZ09mffP.1
The dry-zone water-harvesting and management system in Sri Lanka is one of the oldest historically recorded systems in the world. A substantial number of ancient sources mention the management and governance structure of this system suggesting it was initiated in the 4th century BCE and abandoned in the middle of the 13th century CE. In the 19th century CE, it was reused under the British colonial government. Over the centuries,large-scale irrigation works were important to expand and develop the Dry Zone hydraulic civilization throughout the northern lowland plains and to enhance the livelihoods of the people by ensuring water availability throughout the year. After nearly five centuries of abandonment, the water management and governance systems in the Rajarata kingdom were reutilized under the British colonial regime.
Biography
Nuwan Abeywardane is a Professor attached to the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. He had his primary and secondary education from Dharmashoka College, Ambalangoda. In 2005 he was able to qualify himself by obtaining a first class honors degree for Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Peradeniya. Meantime, he was awarded two scholarships for Academic Excellence and Greatest Competence at the General Convocation. He completed his Master of Science in GIS and remote sensing at Post Graduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya, in 2009 with a GPA of 3.81. In 2009 he joined the Government Department of Archaeology as a research assistant and contributed to several field explorations and excavations island wide. Nuwan joined the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management at Rajarata University of Sri Lanka as a young Lecturer in 2011. He is a senior academic and a researcher now. He completed his Doctor of Science degree in Landscape Archaeology from the Freie University, Berlin, Germany, in 2019. He is an ICCROM alumnus and completed the Conservation of Built Heritage Course in 2014 at ICCROM, Rome, Italy. Further, he had his heritage and GIS education from Japan, Thailand, and India. He is a member of the Sri Lanka Council of Archaeologists.