Samrong Sen
Encyclopedia
Samrong Sen on the east bank of the Stueng Chinit River is a prehistoric archaeological
site in the Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia
. Consisting of a very large fluviatile
shell midden, it flourished in particular from 1500 BC to 500 BC.
Excavations at Samrong Sen, which started in the 1880s, have been described as the earliest prehistoric archaeological studies which gave credence to the concept of Southeast Asian Bronze Age. Excavations conducted to depths of 6 metres (19.7 ft) stratifications have revealed that Samrong Sen provides a link to the professional skills and burial practices of the Bronze Age communities who lived in the Banchiang area on the banks of the Chinit River. As Samrong Sen was almost the only known prehistoric settlement in Cambodia for many years, it was visited by many archaeologists and its artefacts were studied by scientists in several countries. It has been characterized as a highly developed Stone Age
culture in Indo-China.
sites in South East Asia and also many Pacific Islands
. They have revealed that the people who lived at Samrong Sen during the Bronze Age were very similar to the ancestors of the Funanese. Archaeological history of the village in general and the research finding of the archaeological site in particular have been reported by archaeologists Corre in 1879, Fuchs in 1882 and 1883, Mansuy in 1902, Mourer in 1994, Vanna in 1999, and many Cambodian archaeologists and researchers.
Initial villager excavations
Initial finds at Samrong Sen were by villagers' excavations while extracting for hydrated lime from shell excavations at this site; these initial finds were handed over by the villagers to the missionaries. After the first excavations of 1876 in the flood plains of Tonle Sap, additional excavations were carried out by archaeologists at different locations within this site. Many of the large size collections made from the site during several excavations could have been from casual surface excavations and hence no specific methodology could be explained.
19th century
The earliest artefacts were found by Lieutenant Jean Moura in 1876; he was the Representative of the French protectorate of Cambodia in 1864. The stray archaeological finds were transported to France
where they were analysed and interpreted. The Fuchs report of 1883 stated that the top layer consisted of recent flood deposit (inferred from recent pottery). Below this layer were shell lenses which contained black pytahanite, gouges, and chisels. There were also marine shell bracelets, as well as pottery vessels with varying type of incisions. Comparing it with the Mekong delta sediment deposits, Fuch inferred that the site existed a few centuries prior to the advent of Christian Epoch. These excavations also inferred that the site belonged to the Bronze Age on the basis of a comparison of the archaeological finds of similar sites in Thailand
and Vietnam
. Henri Alphonse Mansuy and Olov Janse
, archaeologist from Sweden
who found or purchased many of the artefacts, could not date them correctly since the carbon dating technique was not known at that time. The occupational sequence of the site could not be correctly assessed.
20th century
Systematic excavations with stratigraphic
control started in 1902, and again in 1923 by Mansuy. Three layers were identified, which revealed shell lenses up to 4.5 metres (14.8 ft) depth. Arm bands and beads found here have similarity with those found in the Mekong sites. Pottery found here was not of any decorative type. Graves, however, gave many finds of fully formed bronze vessels. Excavations carried out in stratified layers have unearthed late Stone Age ceramics and also human remains, out of which many layers are dated 2000 BC, as per radiocarbon dating methods. However, the bronze collections were not found from excavations carried out in stratified layers. Several observations were made on the claims of archaeologists during the early stages of the excavations such as they were overzealous and that they over stated when presenting their findings.
Prior to the World War II
, the site was again excavated by Janse. He collected many artefacts, which were examined in 1986 by Robert E. Murowchick of Boston University
. During these excavations, a crucible
(with remnants of scoria) was also found along with bracelets, socket
ed spearheads, axes and a bell. Chemical analysis of five antiquaries indicated 11.74 to 26.47% of lead which verifies that the technological techniques of casting and annealing were known during the period. However, the bronze items have been dated to late 200 BC. In 1994, radiocarbon dating
by Roland Mourer suggests the prehistoric sequence for Samrong Sen as lying between 3400 BC and 500 AD. This has been confirmed by the Accelerator mass spectrometry
(AMS) analysis, a methodology adopted to determine the concentration of carbon-14
.
Finds of Mansuy were further examined by French archaeologists in 1998 for human skeletons. This study identified three fully preserved skulls. In addition, 20 mandibles and several post-cranial ones found here established that these belonged to at least 20 people. Also found was a bronze mould and various arrowheads, axeheads, chisels and fish hooks etc.
. The site is approachable from the Kampong Chhnang, which is 22 kilometres (13.7 mi) away. The village below which the prehistoric archaeological finds are found, is a rugged mound of elliptical shape with a length of 600 m laid in a north-south direction. In the first report made by Edmond Fuchs in 1883, the site was identified as covering an area of 300 metres (984.3 ft) by 150 metres (492.1 ft). It was about 5 metres (16.4 ft) to 6 metres (19.7 ft) above the Chinit River during low flow season. While parts of the site were exploited in the 1930s, the surviving portion as of the 1960s, is situated on the right bank of the Strung-Kinit, a rivulet within the waterway that flows from the Kompong-Leng mountains into the Tonle Sap. The site is approached along the waterway by inland transport from Kampong Chhnang port across the Tonle Sap Lake via the Steung Chinit River. The road approach is, however, seasonal only on a non-monsoon road.
The Samrong Sen village, where the archaeological site is situated, is in the Kampong Leaeng District
in the lacustrine
flood plains, an area which is subject to backwater flooding from the Tonle Sap lake and the Mekong River flows during the months of June to September (rainy season). The area gets exposed during the dry season from October to May when bush vegetation and water plants grow here and fishing is common vocation. The villagers subsist on hydrated lime extraction from the shells and fishing, activities that were recorded by the earliest researchers of the site and which had continued till the 1930s. As of 1999, 1237 people lived here in 235 stilt houses. A school and a Buddhist Pagoda were also reported in the village.
, water turtle and shell fish). Shell fish bones extracted from depths of 1–1.5 m (3.3–4.9 ) were subject to carbon dating which has fixed the age of the site around 1650±120 BC.
The adzes have quadrangular sections similar to those found in Indo-China, Southern Thailand
, Myanmar
, and even India
, Malaysia, Indonesia
, Philippines
, Melanesia
, Micronesia
, and Polynesia
. The stone gouges are linked to similar ones found in Marianas. Other antiquaries included ceramics, stone tools (adzes), a decorated bronze bell (19.7 cm in height), bone spear, harpoon shafts and human remains. Polished stone tools were used for wood working activities and pottery vessels and were produced by professionals. It has been inferred: “Standardization in polished stone toll forms and functions was one of the socioeconomic changes experienced by the societies that lived in the flood plain zone of the Tonle Sap during the transition of Neolithic and Metal periods
in Cambodia.” On the basis of studies carried out in ancient archaeological sites in Thailand the occupation of the area in the Neolithic period has also been inferred through the remains unearthed at the Samrong Sen site, as establishing occupation during Bronze Age (after 2000 BC). There is a certain degree of confusion in this dating since it has been noted that “Neolithic/Bronze Age periods are poorly separated” at the Cambodian sites.
Other observations showed that the ceramics contained decoration that are incised or impressed, a stylish technology which could exist at other locations; an earthenware vase mounted on a pedestal (reported by Mansuy in 1902 and in Mourer in 1971) attests to the polished stone adzes of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age and are found in the adjoining countries of Thailand and Vietnam; stylistic changes have been recorded in the stratigraphic sequences such as in the curvilinear geometric ware. With findings of bronzes, arrow heads, hooks, bracelets, an axe, and a sandstone mould for axes, the excavations have also bridged the information gap between the Bronze Age with the excavations done at Angkor Borei
. The Bronze Age manufacturing of bronze finds at Samrong Sen and other sites in Cambodia are inferred to have been the outcome of supplies of ingots of copper received from central or northeastern Thailand, as Cambodia lacked any copper resources in its own territory. The finished bronze products produced in Cambodia are, however, testified by the large quantity of moulds and workshop remnants found during excavations.
It was also revealed that the settlers of Samrong Sen lived in bamboo houses on stilts, much like today
, France in 1887 are housed in the Musee des Antiquities in Saint-Germain-en-Laye
, along with items found by Vitout in 1912, and one item of Corre in 1905. Jammes had collected 71 items which are kept in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, and part of his collection is at the Smithsonian Institution
. The largest collection of 142 items, collected by Mansuy in 1902, are in the Department of Prehistory, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
, Paris. Vesigne collected 18 items in 1906 which are also in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Antiquaries (3 items) collected by Johan Gunnar Andersson
are in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. European museums have a collection of 289 polished stone implements collected from Samrong Sen. The collections in the National Museum in Phnom Phen in Cambodia is however very limited, that too mostly donated by the Biological Anthropological Laboratory of the Musee de l'Homme, Paris. Some artefacts from surface collections are also kept with the Departure of Culture. The artefacts found by the Cambodian archaeologist L. Vanna relate to some fragments of pottery, polished tools and bronze ornaments, bones of fish and animals, tools to make pottery, shells and biological remains preserved in Phnom Phen.
Prehistoric archaeology
History is the study of the past using written records. Archaeology can also be used to study the past alongside history. Prehistoric archaeology is the study of the past before historical records began....
site in the Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. Consisting of a very large fluviatile
Fluvial
Fluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...
shell midden, it flourished in particular from 1500 BC to 500 BC.
Excavations at Samrong Sen, which started in the 1880s, have been described as the earliest prehistoric archaeological studies which gave credence to the concept of Southeast Asian Bronze Age. Excavations conducted to depths of 6 metres (19.7 ft) stratifications have revealed that Samrong Sen provides a link to the professional skills and burial practices of the Bronze Age communities who lived in the Banchiang area on the banks of the Chinit River. As Samrong Sen was almost the only known prehistoric settlement in Cambodia for many years, it was visited by many archaeologists and its artefacts were studied by scientists in several countries. It has been characterized as a highly developed Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
culture in Indo-China.
History
Though various spellings have been presented, “Samrong Sen” is considered to be correct. The site was first discovered and reported in 1876 by M. Rouques, Director of the Fluvial Transportation Company. Samrong Sen was subject to archaeological excavation from the late 19th century through the end of the 19th century, and also into the 20th century. The excavations show close relationship with NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
sites in South East Asia and also many Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
. They have revealed that the people who lived at Samrong Sen during the Bronze Age were very similar to the ancestors of the Funanese. Archaeological history of the village in general and the research finding of the archaeological site in particular have been reported by archaeologists Corre in 1879, Fuchs in 1882 and 1883, Mansuy in 1902, Mourer in 1994, Vanna in 1999, and many Cambodian archaeologists and researchers.
Initial villager excavations
Initial finds at Samrong Sen were by villagers' excavations while extracting for hydrated lime from shell excavations at this site; these initial finds were handed over by the villagers to the missionaries. After the first excavations of 1876 in the flood plains of Tonle Sap, additional excavations were carried out by archaeologists at different locations within this site. Many of the large size collections made from the site during several excavations could have been from casual surface excavations and hence no specific methodology could be explained.
19th century
The earliest artefacts were found by Lieutenant Jean Moura in 1876; he was the Representative of the French protectorate of Cambodia in 1864. The stray archaeological finds were transported to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where they were analysed and interpreted. The Fuchs report of 1883 stated that the top layer consisted of recent flood deposit (inferred from recent pottery). Below this layer were shell lenses which contained black pytahanite, gouges, and chisels. There were also marine shell bracelets, as well as pottery vessels with varying type of incisions. Comparing it with the Mekong delta sediment deposits, Fuch inferred that the site existed a few centuries prior to the advent of Christian Epoch. These excavations also inferred that the site belonged to the Bronze Age on the basis of a comparison of the archaeological finds of similar sites in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Henri Alphonse Mansuy and Olov Janse
Olov Janse
Professor Robert Ture Olov Janse was a Swedish archaeologist. He is notable for his excavation work at Đông Sơn between 1935–1939...
, archaeologist from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
who found or purchased many of the artefacts, could not date them correctly since the carbon dating technique was not known at that time. The occupational sequence of the site could not be correctly assessed.
20th century
Systematic excavations with stratigraphic
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
control started in 1902, and again in 1923 by Mansuy. Three layers were identified, which revealed shell lenses up to 4.5 metres (14.8 ft) depth. Arm bands and beads found here have similarity with those found in the Mekong sites. Pottery found here was not of any decorative type. Graves, however, gave many finds of fully formed bronze vessels. Excavations carried out in stratified layers have unearthed late Stone Age ceramics and also human remains, out of which many layers are dated 2000 BC, as per radiocarbon dating methods. However, the bronze collections were not found from excavations carried out in stratified layers. Several observations were made on the claims of archaeologists during the early stages of the excavations such as they were overzealous and that they over stated when presenting their findings.
Prior to the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the site was again excavated by Janse. He collected many artefacts, which were examined in 1986 by Robert E. Murowchick of Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
. During these excavations, a crucible
Crucible
A crucible is a container used for metal, glass, and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes, which can withstand temperatures high enough to melt or otherwise alter its contents...
(with remnants of scoria) was also found along with bracelets, socket
Socket
Socket may refer to:In mechanics:* Socket wrench, a type of wrench that uses separate, removable sockets to fit different sizes of nuts and bolts...
ed spearheads, axes and a bell. Chemical analysis of five antiquaries indicated 11.74 to 26.47% of lead which verifies that the technological techniques of casting and annealing were known during the period. However, the bronze items have been dated to late 200 BC. In 1994, radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
by Roland Mourer suggests the prehistoric sequence for Samrong Sen as lying between 3400 BC and 500 AD. This has been confirmed by the Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry differs from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a rare isotope from an abundant...
(AMS) analysis, a methodology adopted to determine the concentration of carbon-14
Carbon-14
Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
.
Finds of Mansuy were further examined by French archaeologists in 1998 for human skeletons. This study identified three fully preserved skulls. In addition, 20 mandibles and several post-cranial ones found here established that these belonged to at least 20 people. Also found was a bronze mould and various arrowheads, axeheads, chisels and fish hooks etc.
Geography
Samrong Sen is located in central Cambodia on the east bank of the Stueng Chinit River, in the flood plains of the Tonle Sap River, near the ancient capital of OudongOudong
Udong is a town in Cambodia, situated in the north-western part of Kandal Province. The town is located on top of the mountain Phnom Udong, about 40 km northwest of the capital Phnom Penh...
. The site is approachable from the Kampong Chhnang, which is 22 kilometres (13.7 mi) away. The village below which the prehistoric archaeological finds are found, is a rugged mound of elliptical shape with a length of 600 m laid in a north-south direction. In the first report made by Edmond Fuchs in 1883, the site was identified as covering an area of 300 metres (984.3 ft) by 150 metres (492.1 ft). It was about 5 metres (16.4 ft) to 6 metres (19.7 ft) above the Chinit River during low flow season. While parts of the site were exploited in the 1930s, the surviving portion as of the 1960s, is situated on the right bank of the Strung-Kinit, a rivulet within the waterway that flows from the Kompong-Leng mountains into the Tonle Sap. The site is approached along the waterway by inland transport from Kampong Chhnang port across the Tonle Sap Lake via the Steung Chinit River. The road approach is, however, seasonal only on a non-monsoon road.
The Samrong Sen village, where the archaeological site is situated, is in the Kampong Leaeng District
Kampong Leaeng District
Kampong Leaeng District is a district in the north east of Kampong Chhnang Province, in central Cambodia. The district capital is Kampong Leaeng town located around 4 kilometres east of the provincial capital of Kampong Chhnang in a direct line. Kampong Leaeng District is the northern most...
in the lacustrine
Lacustrine
Lacustrine means "of a lake" or "relating to a lake".Specifically, it may refer to:*Lacustrine plain*Lacustrine delta-Fish:*Lacustrine goby , a type of small fish found in Philippine waters belonging to the Gobiidae family, known in Tagalog as dulong-See also:*Fluvial - of or relating a...
flood plains, an area which is subject to backwater flooding from the Tonle Sap lake and the Mekong River flows during the months of June to September (rainy season). The area gets exposed during the dry season from October to May when bush vegetation and water plants grow here and fishing is common vocation. The villagers subsist on hydrated lime extraction from the shells and fishing, activities that were recorded by the earliest researchers of the site and which had continued till the 1930s. As of 1999, 1237 people lived here in 235 stilt houses. A school and a Buddhist Pagoda were also reported in the village.
Fauna
Excavations uncovered bones of faunal species (cattle, pig, dog) and aqua species (crocodileCrocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
, water turtle and shell fish). Shell fish bones extracted from depths of 1–1.5 m (3.3–4.9 ) were subject to carbon dating which has fixed the age of the site around 1650±120 BC.
Findings
Morphological characteristics of the tools have been the basis for the categorization of the Samrong Sen stone tools. The adzes, axes, shouldered adzes, shouldered axes, gouges, chisels, a burnisher, a tool used as a hammer are the eight identified categories. The most common tools found were adzes, followed by chisels and gouges. Axes and shouldered axes were very few. In the early excavation stages, flakes, debris, pre-forms and unfinished tools were not part of the collections. Further, though tool-manufacturing techniques could not be correctly discerned, it has been inferred after careful study of the tools that picking or flaking was the initial step followed by partial, edge, and full grinding. It has also been conjectured that sawing techniques were used.The adzes have quadrangular sections similar to those found in Indo-China, Southern Thailand
Southern Thailand
Southern Thailand is a distinct region of Thailand, connected with the Central region by the narrow Kra Isthmus.-Geography:Southern Thailand is located on the Malay Peninsula, with an area around 70,713 km², bounded to the north by Kra Isthmus as the narrowest part of the peninsula. The...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, and even India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Malaysia, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
, and Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
. The stone gouges are linked to similar ones found in Marianas. Other antiquaries included ceramics, stone tools (adzes), a decorated bronze bell (19.7 cm in height), bone spear, harpoon shafts and human remains. Polished stone tools were used for wood working activities and pottery vessels and were produced by professionals. It has been inferred: “Standardization in polished stone toll forms and functions was one of the socioeconomic changes experienced by the societies that lived in the flood plain zone of the Tonle Sap during the transition of Neolithic and Metal periods
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
in Cambodia.” On the basis of studies carried out in ancient archaeological sites in Thailand the occupation of the area in the Neolithic period has also been inferred through the remains unearthed at the Samrong Sen site, as establishing occupation during Bronze Age (after 2000 BC). There is a certain degree of confusion in this dating since it has been noted that “Neolithic/Bronze Age periods are poorly separated” at the Cambodian sites.
Other observations showed that the ceramics contained decoration that are incised or impressed, a stylish technology which could exist at other locations; an earthenware vase mounted on a pedestal (reported by Mansuy in 1902 and in Mourer in 1971) attests to the polished stone adzes of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age and are found in the adjoining countries of Thailand and Vietnam; stylistic changes have been recorded in the stratigraphic sequences such as in the curvilinear geometric ware. With findings of bronzes, arrow heads, hooks, bracelets, an axe, and a sandstone mould for axes, the excavations have also bridged the information gap between the Bronze Age with the excavations done at Angkor Borei
Angkor Borei District
Angkor Borei District is a district located in Takéo Province, in southern Cambodia. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 44,980....
. The Bronze Age manufacturing of bronze finds at Samrong Sen and other sites in Cambodia are inferred to have been the outcome of supplies of ingots of copper received from central or northeastern Thailand, as Cambodia lacked any copper resources in its own territory. The finished bronze products produced in Cambodia are, however, testified by the large quantity of moulds and workshop remnants found during excavations.
It was also revealed that the settlers of Samrong Sen lived in bamboo houses on stilts, much like today
Collections
The 1864 Moura collection of 18 items is housed in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse, along with the undated finds of F. Regnault (11 items) and C.C. Rousseau (15 items). The six items credited to Ludovic Jammes, a teacher from RealmontRéalmont
Réalmont is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.-References:*...
, France in 1887 are housed in the Musee des Antiquities in Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, along with items found by Vitout in 1912, and one item of Corre in 1905. Jammes had collected 71 items which are kept in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, and part of his collection is at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. The largest collection of 142 items, collected by Mansuy in 1902, are in the Department of Prehistory, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...
, Paris. Vesigne collected 18 items in 1906 which are also in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Antiquaries (3 items) collected by Johan Gunnar Andersson
Johan Gunnar Andersson
Johan Gunnar Andersson , Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s...
are in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. European museums have a collection of 289 polished stone implements collected from Samrong Sen. The collections in the National Museum in Phnom Phen in Cambodia is however very limited, that too mostly donated by the Biological Anthropological Laboratory of the Musee de l'Homme, Paris. Some artefacts from surface collections are also kept with the Departure of Culture. The artefacts found by the Cambodian archaeologist L. Vanna relate to some fragments of pottery, polished tools and bronze ornaments, bones of fish and animals, tools to make pottery, shells and biological remains preserved in Phnom Phen.