Centre for Heritage Studies University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka

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Heritage diplomacy along belt and road initiative: Sri Lanka’s role
(Centre for Heritage Studies, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2019) Abeysinghe, Arundathie; Abeysinghe, Aditya
At present, preservation of cultural heritage is complex. There is also a major growth of international cooperation between countries in Asia regarding preservation of cultural heritage. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), that is also known as “One Belt One Road” (OBOR), is a gallant vision which focuses on improving connectivity as well as cooperation among several countries in Asia, Africa and Europe via a network of infrastructure projects in many sectors such as maritime ports, power grids, telecommunications, IT, logistics, energy and transportation. Termed as China’s “soft power” strategy, this project plays a complex role in diplomacy, people-to-people connectivity, culture, heritage and history. Situated at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka has an advantageous geographical position and will benefit greatly as a trading hub. In land as well as sea forms, BRI gives a stimulus to a network of heritage diplomacy, which promotes interpersonal connections. Through BRI, China is spending immensely for heritage diplomacy to secure influence in the Indian Ocean region. According to experts, at present, deep history of China plays a major role in international affairs. BRI is considered as the most noteworthy and far-reaching project China has proposed. There are five goals in this endeavor: connectivity and cooperation, facilities connectivity, people-to-people relationships, policy coordination and unimpeded trade. BRI Project is an initiative to support “inter-civilization exchanges” which will build “bridges of friendship”, advocate human development and promote world peace.
Use of Neural Networks in archaeology: preservation of Assamese manuscripts
(International Seminar on Assamese Culture & Heritage, 2018) Abeysinghe, A.; Abeysinghe, Aditya
Historical documents are engraved as manuscripts ranging from palm leaf manuscripts, metal carvings to paper manuscripts. These manuscripts reveal significant information about yesteryear. Although, there are thousands of such manuscripts, the majority of them are not in good condition. Assam has one of the most ancient and largest collections of manuscripts. Assamese 'manuscripts are bound up with Srimanta Sankardeva (15th–16th century Assamese polymath) as well as his Neo Vaisnavite Movement as the manuscripts were the medium of transmission of the ideals of this religio-cultural movement. At the same time, Assamese are grateful to Sankaradeva and his successors for manuscripts which displayed Assamese culture. This saint-scholar, poet and playwright wrote his compositions on these manuscripts. Assamese consider these manuscripts as objects of veneration. Over the years, manuscripts, especially those in print are prone to decay due to various reasons such as climate (light, heat, dust and humidity), pest attacks and theft. At present, Information Technology (IT) is used for preservation of cultural heritage including preservation of manuscripts, the primary source of historical information. Current methods include use of hyperspectral imaging and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to preserve and scan images to digital format. However, current technologies lack the capability to convert a manuscript to a digital artifact due to improper character identification methodology. As such, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) can be used for classification as well as pattern recognition functions. Therefore, this research paper introduces use of an ANN to identify sections of manuscripts obtained from the Assam region.