Archaeological Team from the Center for Archaeological Sciences Achieves Significant Progress in Excavations at the Pabbaragala Site, Sri Lanka
From August to September 2025, led by the Center for Archaeological Sciences and the School of Archaeology and Museology at Sichuan University, and in continued deep collaboration with the Department of Archaeology of Sri Lanka and the University of Kelaniya, a joint team involving the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute and the Chengdu Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (Chengdu Center for the Protection and Utilization of Cultural Heritage) carried out this year's excavation and research work at the Pabbaragala site in Sri Lanka. This marks the second year of our university's archaeological team working at this site, yielding significant results.
The 2025 Sino-Sri Lankan Excavation Team
The Pabbaragala site, located near Giribawa in Kurunegala, North Western Province, Sri Lanka, is one of the largest and best-preserved Indo-Pacific glass bead production sites in the entire South Asian region. During this excavation, two trenches were laid out in the core glass bead production area, covering a total excavated area of 51.5 square meters. Important features were discovered, and a large number of artifacts related to glass bead production were unearthed. Additionally, a survey of the mineral sources for glass bead production raw materials around the site was conducted. Specifically, Trench T2 revealed a semi-subterranean circular glass furnace with a long fire tunnel; Trench T3 cleared a semi-subterranean semi-circular glass furnace and identified several features such as ash pits. The excavated artifacts include a large quantity of local sand-tempered red and brown pottery, as well as tens of thousands of Indo-Pacific monochrome glass beads and glass frit (chunks). These finds provide crucial physical evidence for studying the furnace firing technology and the distribution of raw material sources for glass bead production in South Asia.
The 2025 archaeological work at the Pabbaragala site has made significant progress, confirming that the site had become a specialized and large-scale glass bead production center by at least the 2nd to 5th centuries AD. The two newly discovered furnaces have clear structures and are well-preserved; they likely served different production functions, such as primary smelting and tube drawing/bead making, respectively. Research on the furnace structures and the glass bead technological process is currently underway. Combined with the survey results of surrounding raw materials like quartz mines, this project reveals the complete industrial chain of "Indo-Pacific glass beads" from the production end for the first time.
The Sino-Sri Lankan joint archaeological cooperation of our academy began in 2018 and has borne fruit once again under the framework of the "Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia" (ACHA). This project was just approved for a new round of funding from the Fund for Cultural Heritage Conservation in Asia at the 2nd General Assembly of the ACHA and the 3rd Meeting of the Council, which concluded on November 27. The work at the Pabbaragala site not only deepens the understanding of the ancient South Asian glass handicraft industry and the Indo-Pacific trade system but is also a vivid manifestation of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" in the cultural and humanities field. In the future, our academy will continue to reveal the site's value and its role in ancient world trade through archaeological excavations and comprehensive research, consolidating the historical foundation and building cultural consensus for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road."
Glass beads excavated from the site
Pottery excavated from the site
Quartz quarry surrounding the site
Chinese and Sri Lankan archaeological team members at the excavation site
Author: FAN Jianan
Reviewed by: LV Hongliang, JIANG Hua