Director General of Archaeology Dr. Senarath Dissanayake told a local news paper that the the piece of charcoal recovered embedded in the Sigiri frescoes dated to between 390 to 540 AC and tallies with the ancient chronicles. According to historical evidence from the chronicles, King Kasyapa built the Sigiri rock fortress and ruled between 473 to 491 AC.

Assigning a scientific date was done with the use of most sophisticated dating techniques in the United States at a Florida Bases Beta Analytic Institution which is considered the world’s largest professional radiocarbon dating laboratory.

The piece of charcoal embedded in the plaster layer of one of the 22 frescoes was found in July when a team of archaeologists engaged in conservation of Sigiriya frescoes found it in the Deraniyagala cave.