The State sponsored violence against the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka has a very long history. A startling aspect of this State violence is the large scale massacres of Tamils. Some of them are so spectacular that they are etched in the Tamil psyche. Prior to the signing of the February 2002 ceasefire agreement, there have been hundreds of such massacres. After a two year lull, the violent campaign by the military was relaunched in 2004. This report documents a selected number the massacres prior to the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 2002. Recording the massacres carried out since 2004 will be a separate project.