In Brief: Evidence found of lost palace

Written by Peter Olszewski

Friday, 12 September 2008 Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post

A one-month working stint by two academics involved with the Ecole Francais d'Extreme-Orient will conclude on Saturday. Since August 13, ceramics specialist Armand Desbat, director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Alice Vierstraete, an archaeology student at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, have been studying ceramic materials excavated at Prei Monti within the Roulos group near Siem Reap as part of the Franco-Khmer Archaeological Mission for the Management of the Angkor Territory. They've made dramatic statements about the finding of Chinese and Middle Eastern ceramic fragments, the latter possibly originating from Iran or Iraq, and indications of large wooden buildings, among other things, helping the team conclude that it has discovered Jayavarman II's 8th-century royal palace. Christophe Pottier, the head of the Ecole Francais delegation, has been speculating on the existence of such a palace for years, and it will be interesting whether academic peer review supports the claimed discovery. peter olszewski