Long before tourists came to see the stilt fishermen, Sri Lanka’s south coast was a meeting point of ships from China, India, Arabia and later Europe. Shipwrecks on the sea floor and words carved in stone still tell that story. Here is what they show, and how the coir rope made in villages like ours helped keep those ships at sea.
Sri Lanka sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean, on the sea route between East and West. For more than two thousand years, sailing ships (ruwal nau) stopped at its harbours to trade, take on water and wait for the monsoon winds to change. Traders exchanged goods with China, India, Arabia and, later, Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain. This long history of sea trade is one of the clearest signs that Sri Lanka had an advanced civilisation from very early times.
Godavaya is a small fishing village near Ambalantota on the south coast. Its old name, Godapavata, means “the harbour of the rocky hill”, after the great rock that guided early sailors. People have lived here for thousands of years, and from around the 2nd century BCE it was a busy port on the Indian Ocean trade routes, serving the ancient kingdom of Ruhuna and its capital at Tissamaharama.
In 2003, local divers from the village noticed pottery scattered on the seabed. It turned out to be an ancient ship, lying about 33 metres deep. Radiocarbon dating in 2013–2014 placed it in the 2nd century BCE, more than 2,000 years ago. Sri Lanka’s Central Cultural Fund describes it as the oldest known shipwreck in the Asia-Pacific region, and UNESCO as probably the oldest in the Indian Ocean.
Its cargo shows how far trade reached even then: hundreds of glass ingots in green, turquoise and blue, copper and other metal objects, unused stone grinding querns, many kinds of pottery and semi-precious beads of carnelian, a stone that is not found naturally in Sri Lanka. These were trade goods on their way across the ocean. The Maritime Archaeology Unit of the Central Cultural Fund is still studying the wreck, and the finds are planned to be shown at the maritime archaeology museum in Galle.
On land, excavations since 1994 by German and Sri Lankan archaeologists found the remains of the ancient port: Roman and Persian coins, Chinese pottery, stone anchors, beads and bangles, and traces of an old jetty. On the rock above the harbour stands an ancient Buddhist temple, the Godapavata Vihara, which the Mahavamsa chronicle names as one of the island’s important monasteries.
At the temple there is a stone inscription in the old Brahmi script, dated to the 2nd century CE. It records that under King Gamani Abhaya, usually identified as King Gajabahu I, the customs duties collected from ships at the port were given to the monastery. In other words, nearly 2,000 years ago, ships coming to this southern harbour paid tax, and that income was written in stone. Researchers point out how rare such a record is anywhere in the Indian Ocean world. The inscription can still be seen at the site today, yet many people in Sri Lanka, and most visitors, have never heard of it.
The rock has protected people in modern times too. During the 2004 tsunami, villagers took shelter in the temple on the rock, and Godavaya was spared while thousands died along the coast. The nearby beach is also an important nesting place for leatherback turtles.
Galle, half an hour from Koggala, was one of the island’s great ports. In 1911 a stone tablet was found in Galle, being used face down as a drain cover. It turned out to be the Galle Trilingual Inscription, dated 1409 and set up by the Chinese admiral Zheng He during his great voyages. It is written in Chinese, Tamil and Persian, three languages of the sailors and traders of the time, and records offerings made at a temple. It is now kept in the Colombo National Museum. Later, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British all used Galle as a port, and the Dutch built the fort that still stands today.
Traditional Sri Lankan boats were often sewn together: the wooden planks were tied with cord instead of being nailed, and the masts, sails and anchors were held with rope. That rope was made from coir, the fibre in the coconut husk. Coir is strong, light and does not rot quickly in salt water, which made it ideal for the sea. Among the old trading boats was the yathra dhoni; the last of them sailed until the early 20th century.
On the south coast, families made this rope by hand, as we explain in Traditional Crafts of Koggala. Husks were soaked in water pits (kohu wala) for months, the fibre was beaten out, and it was twisted into rope with simple tools, often using only a few wooden parts, yet strong enough for large ships. The people of the south were known as skilled rope makers, and some families still make coir rope by hand today.
The same soaking pits brought small fish close to the shore, and those fish fed the stilt fishermen. Ships, rope makers and fishermen were all part of one coastal way of life. Read more in Is stilt fishing real or fake?
Koggala sits beside a large lagoon, Koggala Lake, which opens to the sea. In our villages there is an old belief, passed down through the generations, that the lake was once a small natural harbour where boats could shelter. We have not seen archaeological proof of this, so we share it as local tradition. What is certain is that the people of Koggala have always lived from the sea: making rope, building boats and fishing from stilts at places like Maraduwawala.
Visit the stilt fishermen, see the handmade tools and hear the history of the coast from people who grew up with it.
Book on WhatsApp See experiences and pricesThe Godavaya wreck, off the south coast near Ambalantota. Radiocarbon dating places it in the 2nd century BCE, more than 2,000 years ago, and Sri Lanka's Central Cultural Fund describes it as the oldest known shipwreck in the Asia-Pacific region. It lies about 33 metres deep and carried glass ingots, metal objects, stone querns, pottery and beads.
Yes. A Brahmi stone inscription at Godavaya, from the 2nd century CE, records that the customs duties collected at the port were given to the local Buddhist monastery.
A stone tablet dated 1409, set up by the Chinese admiral Zheng He, written in Chinese, Tamil and Persian. It was found in Galle in 1911 and is now in the Colombo National Museum. It shows that Chinese fleets visited Sri Lanka's south coast.
Coir from coconut husks is strong and does not rot quickly in salt water. Traditional Sri Lankan boats were often sewn together and rigged with coir rope, and the south coast still has families who make coir rope by hand.
Local folklore says Koggala Lake was once a small natural harbour for boats. It is a story passed down in the villages; we have not seen archaeological proof, so we share it as tradition.
