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 Junior Faculty Training Program

Economic Growth, Social Inequality and Environmental Change in Cambodia

Initiating Urban Cultural Studies in Cambodia

Translation Capacity Building

 

 
Under the supervision of His Excellency Prof. Son Soubert, a team of young archaeologists from the Faculty of Archaeology of the Royal University of Fine Arts and from the Royal Academy of Cambodia, headed by Project Director, Phon Kaseka, and Co-Project Directors, Phon Cheakosal and Phlong Pisith, are initiating a yearlong project combining: excavation, cultural resource management and the construction of a museum in order to preserve, document and disseminate information about the rich cultural heritage of the Sre Ampil site.

Sre Ampil village, located in Chheutil commune, Ken Svay district, Kandal province, has been identified as an archaeological site of note by such eminent scholars as George Cœdés and Etienne Aymonier. Sre Ampil is believed to have developed in the prehistoric period and may have continued to play a role throughout the Angkorian and post-Angkorian periods.

This research provides a valuable opportunity to discover more about Cambodian history and fill in crucial gaps in knowledge from an archaeological site outside of the Angkor Historical Park.  Important archaeological objectives of this research project include: to identify Sre Ampil as an important historical site and to increase the body of knowledge about this site and its cultural history for scholars and the public in general.  In addition, this project has important cultural management objectives which include the active participation of the local community which includes:  transmitting the knowledge of Khmer culture and the value of this heritage to the local villagers, persuading the villagers who own archaeological objects from the site to store them in the museum and cooperating with involved institutions, such as the village chief, the head of the commune, students, lecturers and villagers to involve them in the maintenance of this important site.

In its mission to build the capacity of young Cambodians engaged in research, the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) is proud to be the principal funder of this project.  The Sre Ampil Archaeology Project is distinctive, not only in its aims of generating new scientific knowledge of pre-Angkor Cambodia, but as an archaeological project conceived, supervised, managed and implemented entirely by Cambodians.

 
 

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