The Second Prehistoric Archaeological Excavation in Laang Spean (2009)
Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 10:10 Tuesday, 20 October 2009 17:00
 The Archaeologists were      Fig. 1-6 The Excavation and Discovered Ancient Objects (The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts) |
From 1966 to 1968, the cultural heritage and the community-surrounding of Khmer ancestors such as the prehistoric Laang Spean in Battambang were scientifically excavated by Royal University of Fine Arts to improve its daily lives.
It was because of the war that brought the temporary postponement of this study. The excavation continued in the same location by Khmer-French Prehistoric Research Cooperation from July 6 to July 25, 2009. As a result, some stone-made tools such as scraper, stone-made hammer, core stone, an ax with a wedge, and coal remainder were discovered. It was clear that the industry of the prehistoric site was about 8000 B.C after the land levels were analyzed in details. Similarly, the stone-made tools in the Mesolithic Culture called Hoabinhien, a name of the prehistoric site in North Vietnam first discovered these tools. It was said that such tools of The Mesolithic Culture were discovered in the prehistoric site on Sumatra Island, Indonesia, and Thailand. There were cultural connection and techniques of stone-made tools in a particular amongst human communities in those regions. Furthermore, it is so obvious that the extent of geography proved to distribute Hoabinhien, the most important one covering ancient people's daily lives. It was Hoabinhien that Khmer ancestors utilized in the earliest time about 10000 years. Such gradual adjustment in appearance of this tool resulted in the axe with a wedge in the New Stone Age which was clearly seen in Laang Spean Site. Consequently, the strata which had the ceramics could be concluded that we successively saw a sustainability of Laang Spean ownership in all periods from the Mesolithic Culture to the historic Period after the New Stone Age and the Metal Age. By comparison with the 600000-year pebble stone tool in Steung Treng and Kratie, the Stone Industry in Phnom Laang Spean was not old; however, the result of this study showed the evidence of the settlement from the Mesolithic Culture to the New Stone Age. We expect that the four-year research project of Khmer-French prehistory up to December 2010 will provide us with some updated scientific data covering particularly the religious beliefs, the funeral ceremony, and the daily lives of Khmer ancestors in the past. It was added that 1337 pebble stone tools, including the new stone ax with a wedge, 416 ceramic fragments, and 24 human skeleton fragments were discovered in the one-month excavation from July 2 to July 25, 2009, which excluded the nibbling animals, herbivores, carnivores, mollusk shells, and some plants. (M. Tranet). |
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