The sacred city of Anuradhapura, now in picturesque ruins, was once a major centre of Sri Lankan civilization. The fascinating ancient ruins include huge stupas built of small sun-dried bricks, temples, sculptures, palaces, and Irrigation marvels.

The archeological excavation site in the citadel of Anuradhapura has revealed details of the existence of a proto historic habitation. The proto historic Iron Age is considered to be from ca. 900-600 BC. This period is marked by the appearance of iron technology, pottery which is Black and Rd ware (BRW), the horse, domestic cattle and paddy cultivation. It is now evident that the proto historic settlement at Anuradhapura had extended over an area of at least 50 hectares, designated a town. Its location, equidistant from the major ports of the northwest and northeast, surrounded by irrigable and fertile earth and defensible against invaders with its deep burrier of forests suggest a deliberate selection of the locus by a centralized authority.

The lower early historic period, which is 500-250 BC., can be studied on the basis of the chronicles. In this regard the reference to King Pandukabhaya the very first King of Anuradhapura and the formal planning of the city, By 250-100 AC the early historic citadel of Anuradhapura were fully developed, covering an extent of 100 hectares. Thus the ancient city of Anuradhapura would have represented one of the largest cities of its time in South Asia. This period is well documented with ample evidence of close cultural interrelations with the Asoka Empire in India.

Anuradhapura became a great city after the introduction of Buddhism in era of King Tissa in 3rd Century B.C., and went on to become a Ceylonese political and religious capital that flourished for 1,300 years.

The city also had some of the most complex irrigation systems of the ancient world. Most of the great reservoir tanks still survive today, and some many be the oldest surviving reservoirs in the world.