290 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



upon, and certainly they could not have been for levering out the 

 stone to be used later as pillars, as neither the depth, nor shape of 

 the holes, would admit of sufficient "purchase'" for the action of 

 levers inserted into them. 



On page 588 of "Ancient Ceylon," Mr. H. Parker gives some 

 sketches of "Olinda (Mancala) boards," and a photo print on page 

 591 of the Mancala Holes at the third Pyramid at Gizeh, but it will 

 be observed that these are in a distinct order of arrangement, leaving 

 little room for doubt, in the latter illustration, that they were for a 

 game. 



Earlier in the same work Mr. Parker devotes a chapter to Ancient 

 Rock Cup-marks, with an excellent plate of sections of these holes, 

 in addition to full details as to sizes and localities of these singular 

 objects, but he does not appear to find a satisfactory explanation of 

 their object and purpose. 



I noticed, in nearly all cases, the surface of the rock, where the 

 holes I am describing are cut, is slightly more "weathered " away 

 than the rest of the slab, and I am inclined to believe that in this is 

 the explanation of the purpose of these cups. I would suggest that 

 they were crucibles, for making or tempering the iron wedges used 

 for splitting off fragments of stone for pillars and the like. 



The metal, possibly in a crude state, was first placed in the " cup," 

 and firewood heaped above it and lighted till the flames raised the 

 stone and its enclosed iron fragments to a sufficient heat to render 

 the metal of suitable temper for its ultimate purpose. 



The fact that side by side with these cup holes are the wedge 

 marks, showing where a block of stone had been removed, is in itsel 

 highly suggestive, and more so when coupled with fact that the 

 greater number of cup marks are situated within a more " crumbled " 

 area of rock, the "crumbling" being explained on the theory of 

 fire action. 



The shape and smoothness of the holes can be easily explained 

 on the hypothesis of their being formed by spinning an acute-shaped 

 stone on its longitudinal axis, adding water as the drilling stone 

 continued to cut its way into the softer material. This also 

 obviously explains the reason for the holes being invariably tapered 

 and rounded at the bottom. 



My rough sketch shows the general plan of the slab rock only as 

 far as where it is cup-marked , but I might mention that to the south 

 the rock slopes down at a gradual inclination, and then becomes 

 covered with a thin crust of soil. (See Plate.) 



The scanty population in the neighbourhood are Sinhalese, but 

 they are quite unable to give any explanation for these marks, and 

 dismiss the subject by saying that it is a " Yoda-weda." I might 

 add that my cleaning out and measuring each hole caused some 

 amused astonishment. 



