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Digging into ‘Kota Vehera’ By Somasiri Devendra (An excerpt from “Jungles, Ruins and Shipwrecks”) Once, only, did I have the privilege of watching a systematic archaeological excavation in progress. [Note:The excavation was conducted by my father, D.T.Devendra, Asst. Commissioner of Archaeology] It was the excavation of the “Kota Vehera” at Dedigama, the supposed birth spot of Parakramabahu l. Called “Kota” vehera because its upper structure  (hataras-kotuwa, devata-kotuwa and kot-kerella) had not been completed, it was really a massive structure. Dagobas are built upwards from far below ground level, in solid brick and stone up to and above the relic chambers. Above that was a rubble, brick-bat and earth filling, with the brickwork outside gradually tapering off the dome. So to get inside one, you entered from above, with no damage done, and dig till you come to the solid brickwork. The serious work begins then. By the time I was ...