Sandagiri Buddha statues discovered

A rare Buddha statue belonging to third century BC and two statues of Bodhisatvas have been unearthed from a private land at Sandagirigoda in Tissamaharama.
The seven foot Buddha statue made of white marble and resembles the Anuradhapura Aukana Statue, a Archaeology Department official said adding that they were studying how the statues came to be found in the south. The Bodhisatva statues were five feet in height.

Ven. Pathberiya Gnanaloka Thera, who heads the southern cultural project, said he believed the private land from where the statues were unearthed must be the site of a 'Pilimage' which existed about 2 kilometers away from the Sandagiriya dagoba to the east of Tissamaharma Chaitya.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/archives/dmr020102/)