Methodology

Research & Verification

What we know, how we know it, and what is still being checked.

Published site records

Coordinates verified

UNESCO properties

Districts

Official figure vs. published records

The Department of Archaeology reported 2,960 protected monuments in 2024. That is an official reported total, not the number of records in this atlas. Records are published only after their identity, location, and legal status are checked against a primary source.

Source collections

Incoming collections — Gazette listings (Section 18 protected monuments, Section 16 ancient monuments and legacy rows), user-supplied site candidates and earlier starter records — are kept as raw source occurrences. They overlap and are never added together to make a count. A curator links each occurrence to one canonical site.

UNESCO hierarchy

Sri Lanka has eight World Heritage properties. Monuments inside a property are separate records, linked only when membership evidence exists.

Map symbols

UNESCO World Heritage property
Within a UNESCO property
Protected monument
Archaeological site
Historic place
Natural heritage
Research pending

Colour shows documented designation, never importance. Research-pending records are not plotted by default.

Images

Photographs appear only after licence, author and subject are confirmed. Until then, neutral placeholders are shown. Illustrative artwork is never presented as documentary photography.