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Cambodia Condemns Thai Military Attack on Preah Vihear Temple | Cambodia Confirms Troops Still Holding Mount Trop as Thailand Cannot Raise Flag on Sovereign Territory | Cambodia and Thailand Clashes Enter Third Day as Casualties Rise to 33 | UN Security Council Urges Restraint as Thailand-Cambodia Clashes Intensify | Cambodia Condemns Thai Aggression at UN, Calls for Ceasefire and International Intervention | Techo Hun Sen Advises Military Strategy Amidst Border Clashes with Thailand | 45 Staff Rescued After Being Trapped at Preah Vihear Temple Amidst Clashes | BREAKING: Cambodia Denies Firing Projectiles into Laos, Accuses Thailand of Disinformation | Cambodia's Tourism Ministry Seeks Aid for Troops, Refugees; Reaffirms Commitment to Peace | BREAKING: Laos Denies Border Clash with Cambodia; Cambodia Rejects Thai Accusations of Shelling Laos | BREAKING NEWS: Andrew MacGregor Marshall Claims Queen Mother Sirikit Has Died, Alleging Concealment by Thai Authorities | TOP NEWS: Trump Claims Diplomatic Role in Cambodia-Thailand Border Conflict, Calls for Ceasefire | TOP NEWS: Cambodian Prime Minister Confirms President Donald Trump Ceasefire Agreement with Thailand | Thai Military of Escalating Attacks, Despite Cambodia Ceasefire Efforts | BREAKING NEWS: Cambodia and Thailand Agree to Malaysian Mediation Amid Escalating Border Clashes | Ministry of Education Announces Postponement of 2025 Baccalaureate Examination | Cambodian Community in Korea Holds Mass Protest Against Thailand’s Invasion | Techo Hun Sen: “In Times of National Crisis, We Have No Right to Rest or Fall Ill” | UN Secretary-General and Cambodian Officials Call for Immediate Ceasefire Amid Border Clashes | Lieutenant General Duong Samnieng Dies Fighting Thai Invaders at Preah Vihear | BREAKING NEWS: Prime Minister Hun Manet to Lead Cambodian Delegation to Kuala Lumpur for Special Meeting on Ceasefire | Secretary Rubio Calls for Immediate De-escalation in Cambodia-Thailand Border Dispute |

Buddhist Temple Excavation Reveals New Details on Late and Post-Angkor Era

SIEM REAP: The Angkor Vihara Project of the University of Toronto, Canada, in collaboration with the APSARA National Authority, is excavating an ancient Buddist temple about 200 meters east of the Bayon temple. Research was conducted to understand the role of the structures and ancient terrace platform in the west of the Buddhist temple, with interest in finding out more about the evolution of Buddhism in the late Angkorian period.

The APSARA National Authority made a post on its official Facebook page on Thursday, 9 February 2023, sharing some findings about this temple excavation project conducted in collaboration with the University of Toronto.

The Director of the Angkor Vihara Project, Andrew Harris, said that this was the third excavation project on the Buddhist temple in Angkor Thom. He explained that this excavation was aimed at understanding the role of the terrace platform and the Buddhist temple platform, to learn more about the age and role of these structures.

This also included a study on the role, function, and age of another platform separated from the ancient Buddhist temple construction, to understand the temple’s use for the community of people who lived around it.

Harris further explained the findings of the study, such as the discovery of fragment tiles on the terrace platform, which proved that there was once a tiled wooden structure there. In addition to pieces of Khmer and Chinese ceramics, the team also encountered evidence of the use of post-Angkorian ceramics from the 16th to 17th centuries in layers of the ground near the site.

He explained that in the post-Angkorian period, the remains of the dead were placed inside these kinds of ceramics and buried in the ground around the terrace platform according to Buddhist tradition. In addition, the excavation team also found traces of water flowing in and out of a large pond nearby in front of the structure.

This collaborative study on the construction of Angkorian Buddhist temples reveals some evidence regarding the evolution of religious society in the late Angkorian period and continued human society after the capital's relocation to the south.

Harris explained that in the past, researchers believed Angkor was abandoned and uninhabited, however, recent studies by national and international researchers, including three by the Angkor Vihara project, have found evidence that could substantiate the practice of Buddhist religion based on found temple structures, from the end of the 13th century to the end of the 14th century and especially in the 16th century.

Each temple in Angkor Thom has a confirmed age of construction in the late Angkorian period, and there is also evidence of a small number of structures from the post-Angkorian period. Some temples were, of course, renovated or built after the presence of King Ang Chan, the royal family, and Buddhists in the old capital.

Recent discoveries by national and international research teams have provided the possibility to compile a new kind of history on a temple in the capital of Angkor, built in the post-Angkorian period in line with the return of King Ang Chan, and the repair and restoration of shrines in Angkor Wat, including the construction of large Buddha statues on Phnom Bakheng, Baphuon, and the temples around Bayon.

According to previous research, it was estimated that the number of Buddhist temples on the walls of Angkor Thom was between 62 and 72. But until now, there was little research on the mounds of those temples and it was a new topic for national and international research teams to work together to better understand the society of the Khmer ancestors in the capital of Angkor in the late Angkor and post-Angkor period.



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