Ancient statue unearthed at Cambodia's Angkor temple complex

[dustytomes]

Archaeologists have unearthed a large, centuries-old statue that is believed to have once stood guard over an ancient hospital at Cambodia’s famed Angkor temple complex.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... le-complex

[BillyB]

As usual - what happened to the arms?

[Lucky Lucan]

As usual - what happened to the arms?

It's carved out of a single block of stone. The body is hard to smash but the limbs are quite brittle. The destruction of statuary isn't a new thing her. For example Jayavarman VII built Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom and the Bayon using Buddhist iconography. Within two generations his work was being destroyed:

Jayavarman died around 1219. He was succeeded by Indravarman II, who died by 1243. Indravarman was succeeded further by Jayavarman VIII, a Shivaite. He embarked on the destruction or defacement of Jayavarman VII's Buddhist works. The niches all along the top of the wall around the city contained images of the Buddha, and most of these were removed. This included the great statue of Buddha at Bayon, and the Buddha images in Angkor Thom, which were converted into linga

However, nothing will ever compare to the destruction Cambodia's heritage went through during the 1970-99 war. All parties seem to have indulged in the looting and destruction. There are plenty of reports of Lon Nol troops using Hueys to transport statues. I haven't read anything that suggests the Khmer Rouge exported antiquities while in power, but they certainly indulged in the trade when they were on the run. What's shocking is that most of these statues went for a song. A meter high statue might fetch $50 on the Thai border, while eventually selling for 1000 times that price in Bangkok.

Apologies for the Grauniad not being able to tell the difference between Chham and Chhma, I didn't write it:

'I was unable to say anything,' he recalled. 'It was horrible. I had never seen such bad damage, and all for nothing, you know? For money. The small heads they take, they probably have to destroy 10 to get one.'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/02/cambodia