Peeling back layers of prehistory in Battambang
Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:13 pm
Laang Spean cave in Battambang province, which contains some of the oldest evidence of humankind in Cambodia, extends over 1,200 square metres, and archaeologists there have brought 71,000-year-old human traces to light.
By Leonie Kijewski and Kong Meta
16 March 2018
The team has discovered six graves – and as many bodies – so far, with five of them men and one a woman
One of these archaeologists is Heng Sophady, deputy director general for Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, who has devoted his life to uncovering Cambodia’s ancient past. For almost 10 years, he and his French-Cambodian team have been digging in Laang Spean cave in Battambang’s Ratanak Mondol district, making discoveries like the man’s grave, which provide evidence of the earliest known civilisations in Cambodia.
Laang Spean was initially discovered as a historic site in the 1960s by a French couple, Roland and Cécile Mourer, who found human remains, but no burial site. Owing to increasing tensions in the Kingdom, they stopped their excavations in 1971 at 1.5-metres deep.
This is likely the last time this year the team will visit the cave. Every year, the researchers excavate for two months beginning in early February. In November, experts then analyse the remains stored at the Ministry of Culture in Phnom Penh and archive their findings.
Full article https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national- ... battambang