He said, “For centuries, there have been several theories regarding the lion statue of Sigiriya. But now, with this statue being found, we can assume as to how the original lion statue looked like. We believe that this mini statue could be a replica of that.”

The academic further said that other clay pots found from the excavation looked like those that were manufactured in foreign countries. “This means that we had a well-structured business trade with Rome and the Central Asian region during the King Sigiri Kashyapa’s era,” he added.