Ancient pre-Angkor kingdom unearthed in Malaysia

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Australian Netwok News

Malaysian archaeologists believe they have found an ancient Hindu kingdom which predates Cambodia's Angkor Wat by almost 1,000 years. [Reuters]

Malaysian archaeologists say they have found the site of an an ancient kingdom in northern Kedah state, which predates Cambodia's Angkor temples and may be one of the oldest civilisations in Asia.

Lead researcher Professor Mokhtar Saidin says the discovery could lead to the rewriting of history books on the region.

He says buildings found in two palm oil plantations in northern Kedah last month appear to have been part of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Bujang, which existed in the area around 300AD, long before Cambodia's Angkor civilisation which flourished from the 12th to 14th centuries.

"We have dated artifacts from what we believe are an administration building and an iron smelter to 1,700 (years before present), which sets the Bujang civilisation between the third and fourth century AD," he told reporters.

Professor Mokhtar says the iron smelter was a particularly surprising find, as it shows a high level of technology for such an early civilisation.

"We have 30 more mounds at the site that have to be excavated and we are hoping to also find the port area for the kingdom as it was near the sea," he added.

"This will give us a clue to how the civilisation was trading and influenced by China and India, who would have been the two main powers back then to have influenced development in this region."