Angkorian Era Mining Unearthed in Preah Vihear’s Chhaep District

via EFEO (Facebook), 26 February 2024: The latest campaign of PROJECT LANGAU, conducted from 10 to 17 February 2024 in Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia, has unveiled significant findings at the Chhaep Mining and Metallurgical Complex. This exploration, co-directed by experts from EFEO, Sorbonne University, and Bureau d’Études de Mines and Metallurgical Studies Future, delved into ancient copper and iron mining sites like Phnom Chroap Phdau and Prei Rung Khla, revealing a rich history of metallurgical activity dating from the Bronze Age to the Angkorian Era. Efforts to protect these invaluable sites from agricultural expansion are underway, with immediate measures taken to safeguard Phnom Chroap Phdau and Trapeang Choan Sanlong.

Following the archaeological study of the main copper ore reduction site identified in the region: Trapeang Choan Sanlong (2021 2022 and 2023 campaigns), these new field works have allowed the continuation of exploration of a 1km copper ore mining site At the west: Phnom Chroap Phdau. This mining site, which appears unremodeled since the end of the Angkorian era, is characterized by a main pit over 200 m long for an estimated depth of 25 m, surrounded to the north and south by mining hoards spread over 3.5 ha. Its exploitation may be associated with the activity of Trapeang Choan Sanlong, dating from the 4th/VIth to the 14th centuries, and would probably have started even before, from the Protohistory. Still connected with the same copper production activity, a second mining site could be identified 7 km north of Phnom Chroap Phdau: Prei Rung Khla. It is characterized by the presence of traces associated with an ancient manganese extraction activity, a material used as a foundation for copper ore reduction. The pursuit of prospects to the south has also resulted in the documenting of two new metallurgical sites, associated with a co-production of copper and iron for the first: Trapeang Rolum Ampil, and an iron production for the second: Trapeang Prey.

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