An exhibition displaying a human skeleton at Banteay Meanchey Museum in Sisophon town. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Some skeletons and bone fragments found through archeological excavations in Cambodia over the years have been identified as belonging to the Kingdom’s prehistoric population and as such are likely to be the ancestors of modern day Khmer.
Researchers are studying the finds to make comparisons between humans then and now.
Director General of Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Prak Sovannara told The Post that two ancient human specimens had been unearthed in Snay village of Preah Netr Preah district in Banteay Meanchey province.
He said they are stored in a glass case and on display for guests who visit the pagoda. Sovannara also mentioned that a similar display was to be found at Wat Tep Por Vong or Wat Thmey in Trapeang Ses village of Kork Chak commune in Siem Reap town.
He said that at Wat Kumnou in Angkor Borei district of Takeo province, ancient human remains were found when a builder split the wall of the pagoda and excavated it. Researchers now estimate the age of the bones to be more than 2,400 years old.
Director of the Department of Museums at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Chhay Visoth told The Post that in Snay village of Preah Netr Preah district there is a prehistoric site where excavations by experts found ancient human skeletons which are now exhibited in the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Museum for local and international visitors.
According to Visoth, in Angkor Borei district at that time, experts excavated and found various types of animal bones along with fragments of ancient human bones, but no full skeletons.
He said the fragments of bone still yielded important to analyze. The age of the bones can be determined, as well as whether they came from a man or woman and at what age that person died.
“Then we can try to determine what type of disease or accident they died from. We can find out. The French studied skeletons from the Angkorian period and recorded what diseases they may have died from. The skeleton is an important repository of crucial data,” he said.
He explained that in the case of ancient skeletons, if the topography of the area was highly acidic, there would be no skeletons left there because the acid destroys the bones, making it difficult for experts to find ancient bones in some areas.
Some bones – if they prove to be in good enough shape – could be cracked open to extract DNA from the bone marrow in order to conduct a study of the genetics of prehistoric Cambodians and compare them to today, he said.
