URUMUTTA (Cave at)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

An apparently sun-protected but daylight-lit cave (LEWIS 1912) or modified natural rock shelter in a precipitious mass of rocks. SITUATION: InMatara district (Southern Province) and within the obsolete Gangoboda pattu (note 1), and below the trigonometrical station above the village and estate (oil palm plantation) of Urumutta (N06°10': E080°31') : … after some very difficult climbing we at length reached the mouth of the cave itself. It is situated among a mass of rocks both above and below it, and faces the south (LEWIS 1912: 143). CAVE DESCRIPTION: In section, taken vertically, it [the -cave- = daylight lit rock shelter] is shaped like the letter F. The wall, or back of the F, is nearly vertical for 20 feet [6.1 m], and the -roof- is nearly horizontal, projecting about 14 feet [4.3 m]. The cve may be said to form two parts, one to the east and the other to the west, divided by a fallen mass of stone. …the floor of the cave, which, in consideration of the enormously rough and brken character of its surroundings, appeared to me artificially flat. I found on sweeping away a mass of fallen leaves that had been blown in from some trees immediately above and round the cave's mouth, that the floor appeared to be of mud. On scraping the surface (in the eastern section) with a twig, I discovered quartz fragments, that i venture to to believe are arrowheads. Nearly side by side with these I found pottery, and less than a yard away were the bones … (LEWIS 1912: 143). CULTURAL HISTORY (LEWIS 1912: 144): … the cave has the reputation of being haunted. It is in forest, and nowhere within a reasonable distance to a road or path that would lead one to suppose that travellers came there and cooked food by the way and left their broken utensils behind. The natre of the country and the situation of the spot completely hides the cave, while it requires considerable agility to climb into its mouth. Lastly, it is a good long way from water, so it is not likely to be a place fo a growing population to settle upon. a growing population to settle upon.