S Lanka unearths Buddha statues

COLOMBO:

Sri Lankan archaeologists have excavated 17 gold-plated Buddha statues from a UNESCO World Heritage site believed to have been a monastery more than 2,000 years ago, an official told AFP on Wednesday.

The rare find on Tuesday came during excavations of a rampart of the Abhayagiri temple complex in Anuradhapura, an ancient capital in the island's centre north.

Project manager Thusitha Herath, of the government's Central Cultural Fund, said this was the most significant discovery in the archaeologically protected area in more than three decades. AFP