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ARCHAEOLOGY CAMBODIA: TIMELINE

Cambodia is famous worldwide for its beautiful temples of Angkor near the city of Siem Reap but actually counts than 2000 archeological sites.

The temple of Angkor Wat in particular has captured the imagination of many generations since Henri Mouhot brought it to the world in 1860 with his book Voyage dans les Royaumes de Siam, de Cambodge, de Laos. Even though Angkor was rediscovered earlier in the 16th century, it was never completely abandonned.

It is after few decades after Cambodia became a French Protectorate in 1863 that archeological conservation started in Angkor and the surrounding temples. For the explorers who came to Angkor before 1900, it was a dangerous expedition and temples covered with a dense jungle which grown over the centuries as nature took other the temples.

One of the most important milestone of archeological conservation work in Angkor was the foundation of the EFEO (The École française d’Extrême-Orient or French School of Asian Studies) in 1900. The work in Angkor temples started subsequently in 1907 as Siem Reap was controlled by Siam until then.

Conservation work leading by international team of many countries grew uninterrupted except during the Khmer rouge regime and many years after. It resumed in 1992 alongside with the APSARA and the Cambodian government.

ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECTS IN ANGKOR

The primary goal of this page is to gather the last information about the main archaeological projects in the temples of Angkor and in Cambodia in general. Interestingly since tourism stopped mid March due to the pandemic, many locally privately funded archeological projects have started.

Due to the fact that most temples were built on sand, structures slowly sank and now are buried. It is not uncommon that statues or artifacts are found less than 1 meter deep into the ground.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVATION | DISCOVERIES

Archaeological site: Srah Srang reservoir GPS coordinates: 13°25’51.3″N 103°54’23.0″E Discovery date: May 6th and May 8th 2020.

Two days apart, two stone turtles were unearthed from the ground of Kandal Srah Srang. The first one uncovered on May 6th 2020, measured 22 by 37 inches and had a lid which when was opened was found empty. The lid of the second turtle found two days later contained small crystal stones and a small trident

The tortoise Kurma is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu and often depicted in the story of the churning of the Ocean of Milk. It is not the first time stone turtles were found in Angkor: two were found at Bayon temple in 2014 with one containing a gold leaf and crystals in its cavity.

First turtle discovered in Srah Srang. photo credit: Apsara Authority

Second turtle discovered in Srah Srang. photo credit: Apsara Authority

Archaeological site: Angkor Wat western lawn GPS coordinates: 13°24’47.0″N 103°51’43.9″E

Discovery date: April 16th 2020.

During the installation of an irrigation system on the lawn of Angkor Wat temple, many pieces of beheaded Buddha statues were unearthed only 40 cm deep in the ground. They were found together with modern object including plastic bags suggested that they were buried in the 60’s or 70’s.

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

Archaeological site: Angkor Wat northern pond GPS coordinates: 13°24’47.9″N 103°51’51.6″E

Discovery date: March 26th 2020.

During the excavation work on the northern pond of Angkor Wat, an intriguing structure with wooden beams (believed to be dating back from the 12th century) was found below the pond. A small statue of Ganesha was also recovered.

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

Archaeological site: Angkor Thom East gate (death gate) GPS coordinates: 13°26’29.6″N 103°52’23.7″E Discovery date: April 1st 2020.

A team of the APSARA Authority discovered two face stones buried in the siem reap river nearby the death gate of Angkor Thom about 1.5 km from Bayon temple. One was a faceless demon head (also called asura) and the other a god head (called deva) with its left and bottom parts of the face missing.

The death gate is one the most remote of the five gates of Angkor Thom and also the one with no statues standing so this discovery is significant. Originally, each gate had on each side two rows of demons and god pulling a snake as reference to the story of the Churning of the Sea of Milk.

Each side had 2X 54 statues so 216 heads were attached to this site originally.

photo credit: Apsara Authority

photo credit: Apsara Authority

Archaeological site: Tonle Snguot Temple GPS coordinates: 13°27’35.6″N 103°51’30.4″E

Discovery date: July 31st 2017.

A 2-meter sandstone statue was unearthed 40cm deep in the ground of an angkorian hospital dating back from the 12th century. This archaeological site, called Tonle Snguot Temple is one of the 4 remaining of the network of 102 hospitals built by Jayavarman VII in Angkor Thom. Two others can be visited close to Angkor Wat and Takeo temples.

This statue is believed to be standing on the entrance of the hospital acting as a guardian. Many similar statues like this one can be find in Preah Khan temple, although their head had been stolen in the 70s so it is quite rare to find statues with a complete head. However this statue’s arms and legs were missing.

photo credit: Apsara Authority

ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVATION PROJECTS | ONGOING

Archaeological site: Srah Srang reservoir GPS coordinates: 13°25’51.3″N 103°54’23.0″E Focus of the conservation work: central temple Started: march 2020

Srah Srang (Khmer: ស្រះស្រង់, “Royal Bath”) is an artificial reservoir (also called Baray) surrounded by sandstone and laterite rocks facing the east entrance of Banteay Kdei temple. It is believed to have been dug in mid 1oth century and subsequently modified during the reign of Jayavarman VII in the 12th century.

It measures 700 by 350 meters and it is very shallow most of the year, occasionally becoming dry few weeks a year. During the dry season you can see relatively small pile of sandstone blocks right in the middle. A Cambodian flag marked its position when the rocks are below the water.

The current project, privately funded and executed by the Apsara Anthority is focusing on the restoration of the central temple. The first phase of the project is to build a wall around the small temple to isolate it from the surrounding water (see drone picture below). A trident was found on site on the 4th of May 2020, maybe more to come:)

Srah Srang drone view. photo credit: Apsara Authority

Temple bird view. photo credit: Apsara Authority

Cambodian worker from the restoration project (April 2020)

Cambodian worker with central temple in the background (April 2020)

Srah Srang’s central temple (June 2016)

Trident found on Srah Srang island on May 4th 2020. photo credit: Apsara Authority

Archaeological site: Angkor Wat temple GPS coordinates: 13°24’47.9″N 103°51’51.6″E Focus of the conservation work: Northern reflection pond Started: May 2019

The northern reflection world famed location where thousands of tourists day after day stand to witness the color of sunrise behind the five lotus-shaped towers of Angkor Wat. The site got damaged years after years by millions of visitor and by erosion. In recent years, the level of water was dropping so much in dry season that water from the main moat of Angkor Wat had to pumped in.

The basin is 76 meters long and 48.5 meters wide, his depth ranging from 2.7 to 2.9 meters and has embankment steps made of sandstone and laterite stones. Announced multiple times in 2018, the project of restoration of the pond was started in May 2019

The purpose of this project, beside the restoration, is to understand how the pond was built originally and to carry some archaeological excavations.

Northern pond with Angkor Wat in the background, the wooden beams were found below the green cover (4th April 2020)

Excavation at Angkor Wat Northern pond (27th February 2020)

Archaeological site: Angkor Thom GPS coordinates: 13°26’28.6″N 103°50’42.6″E Focus of the conservation work: Western gate Started: March 2020

Archaeological site: Banteay Kdei temple GPS coordinates: 13°25’51.1″N 103°53’54.3″E Focus of the conservation work: Western gopura Started: March 2020

Banteay Kdei temple (AD 1185) is a one of the the many temples built under the reign of the king Jayavarman VII following the Bayon style and one of the few temples with face towers in Angkor.

Banteay Kdei is actually quite unique within the Angkor archaeological park as all four of its face towers are still standing. The current restoration work is focusing on the western gopura which has only two of its four faces complete. One face facing west is missing its top half. Trees have been cleared around the tower making the faces more visible than before.