Dating of metal fixings in the architecture at the Baphuon temple in Angkor Thom have led researchers to conclude that it was built as the mountain temple of King Suryavarman I who reigned in the 11th century.
Metal Findings Give New Perspective on Angkorian History
Cambodia Daily, 20 June 2016
One thing that set Suryavarman I apart from other great kings—to the puzzlement of historians and archaeologists—was that he did not seem to have erected his own mountain temple: Jayavarman V built Ta Keo in the 10th century, Suryavarman II Angkor Wat in the early 12th century and Jayavarman VII the Bayon in the late 12th century.
But that mystery seems to have been solved thanks to cutting-edge research into the iron used to build the Baphuon temple, the second largest structure in Angkor Archaelogical Park after Angkor Wat.
This three-tiered pyramid was the monument that Suryavarman I built, according to carbon-dating of the metal used to hold the temple together.
“It’s very strange that a king with that amount of influence and power didn’t build himself anything in Angkor,” said archaeologist Mitch Hendrickson of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who headed the research team along with archaeometallurgist Stephanie Leroy of the Archaeomaterials and Alteration Prediction Laboratory in France.
Full story here.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing this, Nina Baker! Everyone knows that Suryavarman II built the Angkor Wat in the 12th c as his mausoleum. So this is the Baphuon Temple at Angkor Thom which might have been built by his predecessor Suryavarman I, in the 11th c. as his mountain temple.
Congratulations to Dr Noel Hidalgo Tan, Senior Specialist in Archaeology at SEAMEO-SPAFA. I am ready to view his other posts.
Many thanks again for sharing!