Cambodia and USA Collaborate on Excavations at Southwest Wall of Angkor Wat
AKP Phnom Penh, July 12, 2023 --

The APSARA National Authority, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California of the United States of America have teamed up to conduct a joint archeological excavation at the site of an ancient mound in the southwest of Angkor Wat Temple

According to the authority’s news release on Tuesday, this research is aimed to study the population of people living in Angkor, as well as to see what changes in the urban community during the religious change and the relocation of the city from Angkor to the south.

Dr. Heng Pipal, an archaeologist from the University of Hawaii and head of the research project, said the excavations were now based on the structure of the ancient vihara. The style of the Bai Sema Boundary Marker allows us to determine the age of the vihara's mound during the 14th to 16th centuries, so this ancient Theravada Buddhist temple was built on the site of a temple dedicated to the great deity of Brahmanism, Vishnu or Narayan.

"Previous research has shown that the Angkor Wat Temple complex is a suburb of Angkor, which is why Cambodians in Siem Reap call it "Angkor Toch". The town has a system of mounds, ponds, and roads of grids in the Angkor Wat complex. If you look at the grid of this city, we see that the Buddhist vihara was built on a mound that used to be inhabited since the 12th century," he said

Therefore, the researchers want to know what evidence the human settlements may have left in connection with the conversion of Brahmanism and Mahayana Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism in the late Angkorian period, which Cambodia is still practicing today.

It is known that the villagers of Angkor have long worshiped Hinduism, so the question from the researchers is, what is the purpose of the Buddhist temple in the area of Angkor Wat? For whom? Or during the 13th-14th centuries, Angkor switched from Hinduism to Theravada Buddhism while Angkor was still densely populated? Or was this Buddhist vihara built later in the 16th century when King Preah Ang Chan returned to Angkor?

Dr. Heng Pipal said that according to the research, the ancient temple of Theravada Buddhism near Angkor Wat was left for a long time, causing damage to the structure and the accumulated soil that covered the vihara almost completely, we do not know what the vihara was built of. What does it look like? Is there a stone floor? Whatever happened at this location?

The researchers' main goal is to collect coal and other organic samples from the bottom of the crater and analyse them to determine the age of the carbon 14. When charcoal or animal bones are found for analysis, it is possible to find out from which generation the ancient vihara of Theravada Buddhism was built on the ancient mound.

Researchers say that in the area of Angkor Wat, there are two traces of ancient Theravada Buddhist viharas, one in the southwest and the other in the northwest, where there is still a shrine to keep the Buddha statue.
By Phal Sophanith
- AKP

Given that the University of Hawaii was an early participant in the ongoing Greater Angkor Project, qv on search engine of choice, a multi-university, multi-disciplinary project, lead by Professor Rowland Fletcher, of the University of Sydney, it is only natural that that University of Hawaii would continue such close cooperation with the Angkor National Authority.

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