Connecting Empires and States: Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists

Chapter 23: The Stone Quarries of Koh Ker (Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia): Comparison with Koh Ker Style Sculptures and Lintels

290 Federico Carò, John Guy and Im Sokrithy Chapter 23 The Stone Quarries of Koh Ker (Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia): Comparison with Koh Ker Style Sculptures and Lintels Federico Carò, John Guy and Im Sokrithy Abstract The numerous sanctuaries of Koh Ker lie on a vast and massive sandstone terrace which still retains much evidence of systematic exploitation of large-scale stone blocks. It is tempting to question the extent to which this production has been influenced by nature and the abundance of the local stone material. A recent survey and systematic sampling of the quarries scattered in the area of Koh Ker allowed, for the first time, the petrographic and geochemical characterization of the different stone materials at the site. These data are compared to sculptures in the round and lintels in Koh Ker style from the collections of the National Museum of Cambodia and of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in order to verify the eventuality of a local artistic production. Introduction The opinion that Mesozoic sandstone exposed in the mountains surrounding Angkor provided building materials for the majority of the Khmer temples and sculptures was already consolidated at the beginning of the 20th century. This idea was based on the evidence collected during early field research by French scholars, who found clear traces of organized exploitation of stone material at the southeastern foothill of Kulen Mountain (Delaporte 1880: 113; Parmentier 1913: 36). Since then, trenches with chisel marks and wedge holes have been documented all along the eastern edge of Kulen, such as in Phnom Bei, Trapeang Thmo Dap, Pong Prah Anglong and O’Mealea, and on top of the plateau (Saurin 1954: 625; Delvert 1963: 479). More recently, several undocumented point sources located a few kilometers west of Beng Mealea have been reported by other authors (Rocks 2009). Similarly, several vast sandstone terraces with horizontal attitude and traces of quarrying activity are found in Koh Ker. These large outcrops were noticed by early scholars (Parmentier 1939: 76), although only one quarry, Ang Khna, was recognized at that time. New sites have been brought to light with the progression of the landmine clearance, which strengthens the notion of the existence of local quarrying activity (Moriai et al. 2002: 25; Evans 2009: 40). This study aims to characterize some of the quarries opened by the Khmer in and around Koh Ker, and compare them to a selected production of sculptures in the round and lintels in Koh Ker style. Geographical and Geological Background The studied area is located in the province of Preah Vihear, and occupies a surface of about 40km2 , midway between the Tonle Sap plain in the south and the Dangrek range in the north. This region is characterized by abundant Quaternary sediments, locally strongly laterized. Low residual buttes of different lithology rise from the plain. The surveyed area is surrounded by three major buttes forming a wide amphitheatre open towards the north: Phnom Kulen, the hills of Phnom Pours and the Phnom 290 Connecting Empires hi res combin290 290 8/24/2012 9:48:56 PM 291 The Stone Quarries of Koh Ker (Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia) Tabeng [Fig. 23.1]. The Kulen and Tabeng plateaus are made out of the Upper Jurassic-Cretaceous suite known as Gres Superieurs which, together with the Lower-Middle Jurassic Terrain Rouge, form the broad subhorizontal highlands of northern Cambodia (United Nations 1993: 10). The area of Koh Ker is characterized by several scattered outcrops of Lower-Middle Jurassic sandstone (Terrain Rouge Formation), exposed in the numerous riverbeds cutting across the thin, poorly consolidated Quaternary sediments (Moriai et al. 2002: 25). Fig. 23.1: Schematic geological map of the studied area, with the main temples, the ancient roads and location of sampled Koh Ker quarries superimposed. AK: Ang Khna; PT: Quarry east of temple H and carved outcrops; TR: Trapeang Russei; SR: Stung Rongea (Drawing: F. Carò; modified after Contri 1972 and Hendrickson 2010). Connecting Empires hi res combin291 291 8/24/2012 9:49:00 PM 292 Federico Carò, John Guy and Im Sokrithy Here there is no direct evidence of the quarry position within the sedimentary sequence, although the local geological setting shares similarities with the eastern side of Phnom Kulen, where the Terrain Rouge Formation passes upward to the Gres Superieurs Formation (Dottin 1972: 8; Alabouvette 1973: 9; United Nations 1993: 10; Sieng Sotham 1997: 18). Because of the limited extension...