Giant sandstone sculpture found near Angkor Thom

The excavation conducted by the APSARA Authority and the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre as part of a Field School has uncovered a massive 2m tall statue, a great find for what is just one day of the excavation!

Archaeologists are typically happy to find pottery shards when they excavate a site in Angkor Archaeological Park as too many centuries have passed and too many cities have risen and collapsed for them to expect to find major objects in the ground.

So what occurred Saturday seemed like something that happens only in the movies. On the second day of an excavation in Siem Reap province, a team of archaeologists found a 1.9 meter statue weighing about 200 kg at an 800-year-old site in Angkor Park.

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The excavation is conducted by the Apsara Authority in cooperation with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies’ Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. As part of a training program, 10 students from Asian countries, the U.S. and Australia are taking part in the excavation, Mr. Sokrithy said.

Source: For Archaeologists, a Dream Find at Angkor Park – The Cambodia Daily

See also:

• Ancient ‘guardian’ unearthed in Siem Reap (AP, via Phnom Penh Post, 1 Aug 2017)
• Ancient statue unearthed at Cambodia’s Angkor complex (AFP, via The Star, 01 Aug 2017)
• Singapore field school’s excavation at Angkor Wat unearths ancient guardian statue (Straits Times, 03 August 2017)
• Ancient statue unearthed at Angkor complex (PTI, via The Hindu, 03 August 017)