Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

Cambodia discovers ancient graves
Riyaz ul Khaliq | 08.04.2019
Cambodia has discovered six ancient graves, which date back to between the first and fifth centuries AD, in the country’s southeastern region, local media reported on Monday.

According to daily The Phnom Penh Post, the local archaeologists unearthed graves in Tnort Tret village in Prey Veng town, almost 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the capital.

Quoting Voeun Vuthy -- director of Archaeology and Prehistory Department at the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts -- the report said that the archaeologists have found the graves and tombs at a construction site of a road.

The archeologists have found body parts and pieces of jugs and other pottery items which have been kept at the Archaeology department for further examination, Vuthy added.

“Five tombs were located in the upper layer of the ground with one at a depth of 2.3m. They found tools and other items buried with the bodies,” the Cambodian official said.

The excavation of the newly found ancient graves was completed last week.

The report said that the tombs date back to the Funan era. “Funan is the name given to an Indianized Southeast Asian state centered on the Mekong Delta that existed in that period,” it added.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/cambodia ... es/1445293

What was the Funan Empire ? Quick look here:

Funan (Chinese: 扶南; pinyin: Fúnán) or (Chinese: 跋南; pinyin: Bánán), (Khmer: ហ្វូណន – Fonon), (Vietnamese: Phù Nam) or Nokor Phnom (Khmer: នគរភ្នំ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianised state—or, rather a loose network of states (Mandala)[1][2]—located in mainland Southeast Asia centered on the Mekong Delta that existed from the first to sixth century CE. The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats, Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, representing the Wu Kingdom of Nanking who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century AD

More here,( or do a search): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funan

Thanks Ed, As a cambodian surf dude I am always looking for history of Funanese trading centres down on the coast here.

But even more I am a devotee of grand maritime colonial endeavours. You know, gunpowder, blood and buggery. Splattered guts all over the deck, king's navy, expand the Empire. That kinda stuff stirs my blood and moves me to misty eyes.
So I am a big fan of Fan Shiman

"Funan reached the apex of its power under the 3rd-century king Fan Shiman "Great King of Funan",who "had large ships built, and sailing all over the immense sea he attacked more than ten kingdoms...he extended his territory five or six thousand li."

..expanded his empire's navy creating a quasi-feudal pattern that left local customs and identities largely intact, particularly in the empire's further reaches.
. The Funanese established a strong system of mercantilism and commercial monopolies that would become a pattern for empires in the region.
Fan Shiman and his successors also sent ambassadors to China and India to regulate sea trade"