Posted on 01/21/2008 8:11:14 PM PST by blam
Japan team finds ancient Cambodian water site
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
SNAY VILLAGE, Cambodia (Kyodo) Japanese archaeologists said Monday they have found a man-made water channel in northwest Cambodia used for rituals as far back as the first century.
The archaeologists said they discovered sacred mounds or altars at the ruins in Snay village in Banteay Meanchey Province under a two-year project that began last January.
"Before, it was said that Khmer civilization started from the seventh to ninth century AD, but based on our research here, Khmer civilization went back to the first century AD," said Yoshinori Yasuda, a professor of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto.
"Khmer civilization established a very well-organized and harmonized water system. They constructed a perfect water circulation system (up to and including) the Angkor Wat period" between the ninth and 12th centuries, Yasuda said.
He said that the discovered water channel may be the world's oldest, or some 600 years older than the Tikal ruins in Guatemala in the seventh to ninth centuries.
The site is located about 370 km northwest of Phnom Penh, or about 70 km west of Siem Reap Province, which is home to Angkor Wat.
Yasuda said the project is supported by the Tokyo Foundation, a unit of the semipublic Nippon Foundation, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in close cooperation with Cambodia.
With 10 Japanese archaeologists and experts and 50 Cambodian staff, the team excavated five sites last year, discovering 36 tombs, seven pits and 156 pottery pieces.
This year, another 12 tombs were discovered, according to Yoshito Miyatsuka, archaeologist and president of the Miyatsuka Institute of Archaeology in Sapporo, who helped conduct field research on the site.
GGG Ping.
They discovered that Cambodians had water 2000 years ago?
Wow, I’m impressed...
Cambodians invented water!
Why is every new discovery of anything either a religious site or an obervatory. Didn’t anyone have chicken coops?
In fact, the Sumerian language is replete with terms for canals, dikes, and reservoirs, indicating that Sumerian speakers were farmers who moved down from the north after perfecting irrigation agriculture there.
but calibrated radiocarbon dates from Tell Awayli would place it as early as 4500 BC.
The Sumerians brought the language with them from Sundaland.
"The cradle of human civilization may well have been the prehistoric lowlands of the Southeast Asian peninsula, rather than the Middle East. Since those lowlands ‘sank’ beneath the seas thousands of years ago (actually drowned by rising sea levels), humanity has remained unaware of their possible significance up through the early 21st century. "
This is irrelevant, but I initially read this as “Japan Team Finds Ancient Cambodian Water Slide.”
I should have known that. My mistake.
;-)
It's good that the archaeologists were able to channel their efforts.
I wonder if the Japanese government was able to float these guys a grant.
Running water; indoor plumbing; “Roman Arches”; not to mention the art work and engineering to quarry the stone for the city some 70 miles away in Thailand and transport it to the site with barges down the Mekong River - up Tonle Sap Lake and then hauling it the last 15 or so miles thru the jungle with elephants.
If you ever get the chance to go - do. It will take 3-4 days just to rush thru - a week is better.
Ping for puns.
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Thanks Blam. Must be a new discovery. A relative of mine traveled through what is now Cambodia, and didn't pass water once... |
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water water everywhere...Angkor Wat...huge image.
http://www.hobotraveler.com/1temp_rotaangkor01.jpg
Aerial photos of remnants of Angkor settlement. Occupation mounds and ponds (upper left). Canals and embankments (upper right). Roadway and canal (lower left). Village temple area (lower right) (Image: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
See posts 11 & 12. Baddaboom!
This guy sounds like one of us. Should we let him in the club?
Yeah, they need more rest stops.
Without water, the heat there would create deserts.
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