The International Conference on Land Transportation, Locomotive Heritage and Road Culture - 2017
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Item Usage of Stone in Road-Building: An Industrial Archaeological Perspective(The International Conference on Land Transportation, Locomotive Heritage and Road Culture - 2017, 2017) Kodithuwakku, K.; Withanachchi, C.R.Stone is a prominent geo-material used for various necessities in the evolution of human culture for quite a long time. The usage of stone in the history of road-building has been in practice sincecirca 4thand 5th century A.C. It was practiced in Sri Lanka until the first half of the 20thcentury. The type of stone used was granite, commonly known among the locals as ‘Black Stone’, Gneiss or Charnokite with a high degree of hardness used for constructing roads, bridges, culverts and other superstructures. In the late 19th century the Telford and Macadam methods were introduced for paving at ascertained sizes and strata. At the inception, rollers made with granite driven by oxen or elephants were used to press the paving. One of such rollers is exhibited in the Highway Museum at Pilimathalawa. Thereafter, steam and diesel-powered rollers have been used respectively. In the municipal areas, setts were used for paving roads. Granite bars had been used for the construction of bridges called SilaSetuin inAnuradhapura period. These bridges are of two types namely, beam bridges and slab bridges. Stone beam bridges are largest bridge type and remains of several bridges have been identified in the Anuradhapura region. Masonry arch- bridges are the earliest example for the stone bridges used in British Colonial Period. Foundations, piers, abutments and wing walls of the arch-bridges have been made using granite. In the second half of 19th century, several segmental arch-bridges using stones emerged. The dressed stone blocks have been used to build parapet walls with coping of iron bridges. Apart from these, stones have been used to carve mile posts, guard stones of culverts and manhole plates. The objective of this paper is to examine and identify the usage of granite for road construction. A field survey in situ has been conducted to achieve the positive results.Item Identification of the Buddhist Temple Paintings Depicting the Features Conjoined to the Early–Modern Transport System(The International Conference on Land Transportation, Locomotive Heritage and Road Culture - 2017, 2017) Kodithuwakku, K.Different kinds of carts and chariots have been added to the transport system in the course of history and they can be identified among the Buddhist temple paintings in Sri Lanka, particularly in the low-country. Among these, paintings some depicti the features of early – modern transport system rarely found in murals in the Buddhist temples located in coastal regions belonging to the second half of the 19th century to the second half of 20th Century. The Dvibhummikaramaya at Galketiya in Galle and Subodharamaya at Karagampitiyaare belonging to the second half of 19th century carry examples on this subject. These paintings are based on religious themes however; the artists were not in a position to be devoid of modernity that they experienced in day-to-day life. As a result, a steam powered train and two road bridges have been included in their paintings. One of the paintings of Dvibhummikaramaya contains a railway station with a steamed engine and a station master carrying a tablet. There it is recorded a number “ N 20 ” ( N as a mirror image) in front of the locomotive engine to indicate that it is a “ N ” class locomotive which had been used only in the narrow-gauge railway line. Two paintings of Dvibhummikaramaya depict road bridges and two tunnels at both ends, built of bricks together with two protective fences in both sides which is only an imagination of the artist. Nevertheless, a painting in the SathsathiViharayain Subodharamaya built in 1897 reflects an arch-bridge more prominently. The arches of the bridges are shown in segments in four spans and paid an attention to the parapet walls that are on both sides. The bridge is represented as a masonry arch-bridge belonging to the period of 1850 and 1900AD. The objective of this paper is to identify the manner in which modern features were absorbed into temple paintings conjoining the early-modern transport system.