Introduction

The island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon until 1973) lies 48 km off the coast of southern India and is effectively an extension of the Indian peninsula. However, while it shares many environmental and social characteristics with southern India the island is nevertheless both a distinct regional unit within South Asian archaeology and an independent nation state.

Despite its relatively small size, the island can be divided into two distinct zones: a dry zone and a wet zone. The wet zone encompasses the southwest of the island and follows the lowland plains of the coast lifting sharply into the upland, rising to over 2400 m above sea level at Adams Peak near the center of the island. The dry zone covers nearly two-thirds of the island and is characterized by low level plains that stretch from the far north of the island, down the east coast and to the far south.

The environment of the dry zone plains is similar to that of inland southern India, and dense human inhabitation is only made possible through extensive irrigation and water management, with artificial reservoirs covering the landscape. Sadly this climatic north-south divide can now also be seen reflected in the long running, bloody conflict between Tamil separatists and the Sri Lanka government (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Map of Sri Lanka.