Kingsley Kurukulasuriya
Carbon Dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. Excavations at the mass grave in Mannar began when the site was first discovered during the initial phases of the construction of a SATHOSA building in the area. Samples obtained from the mass grave at Mannar were sent to Beta Analytic, USA for a Carbon 14 test.
The carbon dating report prepared by Florida-based Beta Analytic – Radiocarbon dating services has revealed the samples obtained from the Mannar Mass Grave belonged to people who had died 350 to 600 years ago.
According to the Sri Lankan newspapers, there was only one angle regarding the human skeletons found at Mannar. A Tamil politician, claimed the heads found buried there to be those of Tamils murdered by the Sri Lankan Army.
In the latest news, P.B.S. Hemachandra, Lieutenant Commander (retired) SLN, refers to many books, according to which the people massacred in Mannar quite a while ago, were Sinhalese.
According to another report, a Tamil leader has categorically stated that this place in Mannar was where a large number of Tamils were put to death by the Sri Lankan army. It was written with vengeance against the Army.
President Rajapaksa inaugurated the exposition of so-called ashes of former King Dutugemunu who reigned in the first century BC at the event organized by the National Heritage Ministry – May 18, 2011 | File photo
The bodies in the latter case were identified by Carbon Dating as those of people who were killed during the Dutch period. Another writer stresses that these bodies were of Sinhalese people massacred by the British.
The main question now is whether the government is accepting the decision of the Carbon Dating done in this case.
Scientifically speaking, all people — the government and others in a country – should accept the verdict given by the scientific institute after carbon dating.
When Hans Christian Anderson wrote “The Emperor’s New Clothes” he must have been thinking of Sri Lankans who exhibited their gullibility when a parcel of charcoal was taken in procession round the country twice, the government proclaiming its contents to be those of King Dutugemunu’s ashes. This is what a government did several years ago to fool the people.
But one MAN stood tall against this proclamation from the beginning. He is Dr. Raja de Silva who, incidentally, saved not only all paintings at Hindgala but all but two of the famous paintings at Sigiriya after their dreadful vandalism. He said what was sent round the country to be worshipped was nothing but a parcel of charcoal. The others who were called to decide on the matter, excepting Dr. Abhaya Aryasinhe, stated that the parcel contained the ashes of King Dutugemunu.
Although the parcel was sent to a laboratory in France, the results were not made public, maybe by a “mild Despot”. Clearly, this amounts to a government hiding information from the public. It is high time the results of that laboratory test were made public in Sri Lanka.
Will the government, at least now, disclose the results of the tests done on the parcel of charcoal or the parcel which others assumed to comprise the ashes of King Dutugemunu?
anonymous / June 14, 2019
“Will the government, at least now, disclose the results of the tests done on the parcel of charcoal or the parcel which others assumed to comprise the ashes of King Dutugemunu?”
What’s inside is the ashes of Kadiragamar, H.Kobbekaduwa, V.Wimalaratne, Janaka Perera, Lasantha W, 11 kids from Dehiwala uni students abduction………………………and the list is infinite. I think in the picture, M.Jarapassa is begging for mercy. But, he has not given up his habit of eliminating anyone who gets in his way when it comes to ‘Greed, Hatred & Dilution’. ‘Suwapath Weva!
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K.Anaga / June 14, 2019
Carbon Dating ? with Maliban Biscuit wrappings besides it may be a good advertising for the standard of biscuit wrapping used.
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Amarasiri / June 14, 2019
Kingsley Kulakyrasuriya,
“ the carbon dating has shown that they Pekingese to people who died 350 to 600 years ago”
Thanks. Modern science is coming to bust the myths and expose the politicians and apologists.
This is Year 2019.
So, 2019-350 = year 1669.
The Dutch period was from 1658 to 1796.
So, 2019-600= year 1419.
The Portuguese were here from 1505 to 1658.
So, most of it took place during the Portuguese period.
We also know that there were Muslims in Mannar, and the Portuguese massacred the Muslims. They also may have massacred the Hindus as well. However, the Para-Portuguese had reasons to massacre the Muslims for trade and religious reasons as well .
They were not Sinhala most probably.
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Raman / June 14, 2019
Even the Catholic Church has allowed carbon dating of many “holy relics”. Many have been exposed as fakes. It’s about time tests were done on local “relics”. Otherwise we should assume they are fake too.
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Amarasiri / June 14, 2019
Kingsley Kurakulasuriya,
Thanks. Modern science and the scientific method is busting myths and exposing crooks and criminals. So is charcoal, and the suckers accept without evidence.
There is the Temple of the Tooth. Is that Buddha’s Tooth or a canine tooth? The Monks would never let it be carbon dated. Let the suckers be fooled for ever!
Ask can a Tooth do anything for you? A piece of charcoal? A rock!
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leo / June 15, 2019
Well said, my man!!!
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Steve / June 14, 2019
“The carbon dating report prepared by Florida-based Beta Analytic – Radiocarbon dating services has revealed the samples obtained from the Mannar Mass Grave belonged to people who had died 350 to 600 years ago.”
Unfortunately carbon dating cannot tell the race of the people. So here we go again with conspiracy theories.
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Amarasiri / June 14, 2019
Steve,
This was the Para-Portuguese period. The victims were most likely Muslims or Hindu Tamils. May be the artifacts in the burial site may throw some light.
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justice / June 14, 2019
The “Tamil Leader” was correct.
There is no need for carbon dating – eye witness testimony is sufficient.
Remains of Tamils massacred are in many places in the north and east.
http://www.nesohr.org/files/Lest_We_Forget.pdf
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justice / June 14, 2019
Remains of batches of Tamils butchered between 1956 & 2001 lie scattered in the north and east.
Testimony of witnesses are available.
Raja de Silva is correct.
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Nathan / June 14, 2019
Politics and religion will go hand in hand but not religion and science. Modakama is us used to hoodwink the gullible. Jesus’s shroud, Buddha’s hair..are good examples. Had someone reminded them that Duttegemunu was not a Sinhala but a Hindu Naga then the story will be different. Truth is not the issue. Any rubbish will become a truth if it suits them. Any truth will become a lie if it does not suit us. That is where we are. JR used exposition of kapilavasthu during his time when there was turmoil to mislead the gullible. This is also the reason why clergy are becoming politicians because both cheat the masses.
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Lester / June 14, 2019
Make believe Eelamist history fails when pitted against modern science.
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Sugandh Thomas / June 15, 2019
One excavation, one sample, analysis by a single laboratory – Don’t be quick to malign the people who lived to tell the truth. This excavation may be in fact from the dutch era. But it is incredibly stupid and bigoted to jump to conclusion on the “Eelamist history”. “Eelamist history” is no make believe; it is very much intact and will stand the test of scrutiny.
Also to be noted, Modern science has to be used using a scientifically and statistically sound approach. If you’re not a scientist, you’re very unlikely to understand the process. So, layman should let the experts make the judgement.
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Nathan / June 15, 2019
Lester modern science prove more and more of a common ancestry. If the guys hide the truth then what can ordinary people like you could do. The adi-Vasi concept is only a survival instinct. Sinhala and Buddhism is very true but it has a starting point and not appeared spontaneously in an isolated land. It simply followed the normal process of human evolution. Borrowed religion, borrowed language, borrowed history, borrowed culture, borrowed traditions and nothing to be ashamed of since that is evolution.
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Aiyoaiyo2 / June 15, 2019
Aiyoaiyo2
Our common is presently thought to be one LUCY whose remains were discovered somewhere in Africa. Possibly Ethiopia!! Eka mawaka daruwo!!
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Lester / June 15, 2019
Nathan, the scientific evidence shows Veddas have a strong genetic affinity to “Balangoda Man” who lived in Sri Lanka 34,000 years ago.At the same time, the linguistic evidence shows Veddas language is much closer to Sinhala than Tamil. For example, “The first systematic attempt at studying the Vedda language was undertaken by Hugh Neville, an English civil servant in British Ceylon…He speculated, based on etymological studies, that Vedda is based on an Old Sinhalese form called Hela.” It means the Veddas had far greater interaction with Sinhalese than Tamils. It increases the likelihood that Sinhalese arrived on the island before Tamils.
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / June 15, 2019
These bodies belong to Tamils who were mass arrested following a land mine blast near Murunkan post office in December 1984, who were killed and buried. This include that of father Mary Bastian of Vankalai church, and when questioned about his disappearance, the racist par excellence late Lalith Athulathmudali sarcastically said that he had run away to India. The presence of Maliban biscuit tin in the mass grave puts to rest the carbon dating result. The test done may be authentic, but whether the correct bones were sent for testing is the question. Instead of sending those bones found superficially and those with suspect circumstances of hands being tied at the back, they may have sent bones found at deep level. The whole thing has been conducted by Sinhala officials whose credibility is under question. Prof Raj Somadeva is a well known racist and of the JMO, I do not know about his integrity. When there were forensic medicine department and archaeology department with qualified personnel in Jaffna university, to appoint Sinhala persons from south to conduct it, shows that the government wanted to cover it up from the beginning.
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Suranga Gunasekera / June 15, 2019
The assumptions of carbon dating.
1. The age of the world.
2. N becoming C14 is constant.
3. All animals and trees consume C14 in an identical way irrespective of the size, amounts consumed or age.
4. The bones contain similar quantities of C14 before death.
The age of the earth keep changing with time.
The rate of C14 decaying and created is not in balance yet. This suggests a young earth scientifically.
Expansion rate is constant because assumption is outer space is a vacuum.
No clear evidence of materials on earth which can with stand the heat on outer space.
We can’t reach the depths of the sea but we have reached the moon and further.
We can’t understand the true nature of the earth but we understand the universe.
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D.P. / June 15, 2019
If various techniques bring similar results, then we have to assume that the dating methods are valid.
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Suranga Gunasekera / June 16, 2019
It’s wrong. How much depends on number of years. It’s an exponential curve.
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Carlo Dissanayake / June 15, 2019
Why do some people seem to categorically say that the remains are of Tamils killed by the Sri Lankan army as if the LTTE killed no one and are innocent of any crime? They could also be the remains of
innocent villagers killed while asleep by the LTTE. Could they not?
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Sugandh Thomas / June 15, 2019
Modern science is available but there are (1) limitations and probability of accuracy, (2) potential for laboratory errors, and (3) has to be applied using a statistically significant approach using pre-defined sampling requirements.
The other key aspect of generating a reliable result is to use more than one Laboratory to perform the testing. Ideal to use three independent test locations.
Yet another very critical factor that needed to be considered was how many of the skulls and skeletal remains were to be tested out of the entire lot that was excavated.
We need to review the results to make a judgment on whether the sampling and testing protocol were robust to be considered scientific and statistically sound.
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kali / June 15, 2019
Kingsley Kurukulasuriya
Carbon Dating: Human Heads & A Dubious Parcel
*** The above might not reveal the whole story as to the identities of those who perished and at hands of who. But Gene dating will prove beyond reasonable doubt if they were Sinhalese and as the discovery throw light as to the brains contained any hatred. If the answer is yes it surely must be Sinhalese. Got it
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LalKumar / June 15, 2019
Sri Lankan people by nature hate to accept facts. They continue believe in what they think that is right. Even though the facts are like the elephant in the room. A can think of a very good example. There is big temple in Attanagalla that claim a King donated his head to peasant to save the nation. Now that story that a peasant embarked on a journey from Anuradhapura. At when he sat down to eat his lunch he noticed a hermit meditating nearby. Later identified as the king the abdicate his throne. Just imagine a peasant walking all the way to Attanagalla from Anuradhapura in about five hours. after all those along the way. So Attanagalla temple has no connection to King Sri Sangabo. But still believe the old Story.
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Punchi Point / June 15, 2019
The C-14 dating of 350-600 years ago, corresponds to 1400 – 1650 A.D. During 1300-1400’s the Tamils colonized these areas intensively. This mass grave could be of Sinhalese killed by Tamil invaders, and not some imaginary Maliban biscuit eating Tamils. In this period there were many attacks on the Sinhalese by Tamils. There is one recorded attack on the Sinhalese by Tamils led by Aryachakravarti, who had set up his base in Jaffna, and was extorting kappam (there you Tamil fanatics can count a loanword into Sinhala from Tamil too), i.e tribute from the Sinhalese. After raiding Kurunaegala area to collect kappam and massacring the Sinhalese, he even left an inscription in Kotagama boasting how the Sinhalese women cried when their men were massacred.
“The women of Anuresa (meaning Lords of Anurai, Anurai a Tamil word originally used for the Sinhalese capital of Anuradhapura, and then for any capital of the Sinhalese) who did not submit to Ariyan of Cinkainakar of foaming and resounding waters shed tears from eyes that glinted like spears and performed the rites of pouring water with gingerly seed from their bejeweled lotus like hands.”
The Tamil invaders didn’t just kill and take what they wanted, but boasted about killing the Sinhalese and the agony of the Sinhalese women and the humiliation of the Sinhalese suffered.
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Punchi Point / June 15, 2019
There is also the well known massacre of ~700 Christians in Mannar in 1544 AD and the ethnic cleansing of Buddhists from Jaffna, by Sankili. This massacre of the Christians and ethnic cleansing of the Buddhists is documented in the Tamil document Yalpana Vaipava Malai and corroborated by Portuguese documents:
“After the massacre of the Christians Sankili’s insane fury longed for more victims and he fell upon the Buddhists of Jaffna who were all Sinhalese. He expelled them beyond the limits of the country and destroyed their numerous places of worship. Most of them betook themselves to the Vannis and the Kandyan territories.”
Presently the Tamils who came here as invaders and who continue to massacre the Sinhalese upto the present day, are pretending to be innocent indigenous people who are being genocided by the Sinhalese immigrants from India. LMAO. Even this scientifically dating of the grave is being attacked by Tamils and they are claiming that these are remains of Tamils killed by the army, because there supposedly was a Maliban-biscuit tin. Really how dumb are these Tamils? How long will a tin survive under mud and soil? Even on a shelf inside a house, a Maliban biscuit tin will start rusting in a couple of months. If it is outside, it will be unrecognizable within a few weeks. Tamils do not use their heads when they lie, they just want to say anything to create doubt and suspicion to stir up anti-Sinhalese sentiments and keep their allegations and other lies against the Sinhalese alive – this is all just a part of the Tamil genocide hoax. Tamils who act like this are a really wicked lot and there will never ever be peace here, because they do not want to live peacefully.
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Native Vedda / June 16, 2019
Punchi Point
Punchi Brain
Punchi Willi
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“There is also the well known massacre of ~700 Christians in Mannar in 1544 AD”
June 15, 2019
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“Sankilli, the illegitimate son of King Pararajasegaram and one of the most cruel rulers of Jaffna, marched down to Mannar on the Christmas eve of 1544 and massacred 600 Tamil Catholics, which included pregnant women, children, old and the young, all because they did not recognize him as “the sole representative of the Tamils”.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith – The Benign Star Of Sri Lanka
Colombo Telegraph
JUNE 9, 2019 AUTHOR:
H. L. D. MAHINDAPALA
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How come within 6 days the number of dead has grown from 600 to 700?
Mahindapala must be using different source book, perhaps he could give us the details of reference.
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