via Le Monde, 21 April 2024: Since 2016, an archaeometallurgical study has been revealing insights into the 11th-century foundry at the royal palace of Angkor, as part of a Franco-Cambodian research project. This site, the only known foundry of its era in Cambodia, was crucial for casting bronze statues for the kings of Angkor. Situated behind the Terrace of the Leper King, the area has unearthed remnants of the bronzesmiths’ craft and traces of metal linked to ancient copper mines.
The dig site was just north of the perimeter wall. The deafening chirping of cicadas filled the air, with the insects hidden in the spindly trees that reached straight up to burst into a bouquet of leaves 30 or 40 meters above, when at last the sky came into view. There was also the perpetual twittering of elusive birds, spider webs stretching out in tubular traps and, scattered here and there, blocks of sandstone and reddish laterite. Since 2016, a team of archaeologists led by Brice Vincent – an associate professor at the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) and head of the EFEO’s study center in Siem Reap, the neighboring city – has been drilling windows into the past in this small area behind the Terrace of the Leper King. More specifically, into a forgotten crafting area: The foundry where, in the 11th century, bronze statues were cast on behalf of the kings of Angkor. This is the only known foundry of this era in Cambodia.
