Mannar Mass Grave: Bone fragments dated between 1400 - 1650 AD

Colombo (News 1st): The carbon dating report prepared by US-based Beta Analytic - Radiocarbon dating services has revealed the samples obtained from the Mannar Mass Grave belong people who had died 350 to 600 years ago. Five Bone fragments and one tooth recovered from the Mass grave in Mannar was sent to Beta Analytic for a Carbon 14 test on the remains. The report prepared by US-based Beta Analytic was earlier handed over to Mannar Magistrate T. Saravana-rajah. News 1st today sought the expertise of Colombo Specialist Judicial Medical Officer Dr Ruhul Haq to understand the contents of the report. According to the report, the sample from the mass grave falls within the calendar range years between 1400 and 1650 AD. So far, 335 individual skeletal remains have been identified and out of which 318 skeletons have been removed from Mannar mass grave site. Carbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. Excavations at the mass grave in Mannar began when the site was first discovered during the initial phases of the construction of a SATHOSA building in the area.

Attached below is a copy of the report,