Battambang's prehistoric site La'ang Spean open to visitors

Chea Sokny | Publication date 08 January 2023 | 21:00 ICT



Battambang provincial officials are encouraging people to visit the La’ang Spean prehistoric site, located in Ratanak Mondol district’s Treng commune. Photo supplied

Battambang provincial Department of Tourism officials have called for tourists to visit the La’ang Spean prehistoric site. Recent excavations at the site have unearthed artefacts dating from more than 70,000 years ago.

“To date, stone tools, pottery, jewellery and even human remains have been discovered at the site,” said tourism department deputy director Nou Tha.

. . .

Recent excavations have uncovered artefacts such as broken stone tools from the Paleolithic Age, along with pottery, ornaments (stone beads and bracelets and necklaces’ pendants carved from the teeth of animals), bone fragments and the tombs of ancient humans.

Analysis of the excavated objects show that the caves were inhabited in three different eras: about 71,000 years ago; between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago; and about 3,000 years ago. The caves were used predominantly as burial sites.

The site was first discovered and excavated by Ceci Morey and Roland Morey in the 1960s, although research was then interrupted for more than 40 years.

More:
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battambangs-prehistoric-site-laang-spean-open-visitors



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August 2, 2021
VIDEO: ‘One of a kind’ prehistoric cave in Cambodia
Khmer Times



VBlogger Forgotten Temples Cambodia has shot a wonderful video of the Laang Spean Neolithic Cave in Battambang Province, north-western Cambodia.

As he says:

This site is the only prehistoric site in Cambodia that has the burials of prehistoric man in their living environment. It is an amazing place that hardly anyone ever gets to. A tough one to find but is glorious.

Laang Spean (Khmer: ល្អាងស្ពាន ) Cave of Bridges refers to a prehistoric cave site on top of a limestone hill (Phnom Teak Treang) in Battambang Province, north-western Cambodia.

The site’s name Cave of Bridges hints to the many limestone arches (or bridges) that remain after the partial collapse of the cave’s vault.

Although excavations are still in progress, at least three distinct levels of ancient human occupation are already documented. At the site’s deepest layers, around 5 meters below the ground, primitive flaked stone tools were unearthed, dating back to around 71,000 years BP.

More:
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50906592/video-one-of-a-kind-prehistoric-cave-in-cambodia/