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FneNcu RESEARCHERs Cécile potential archaeological sites to explore. Theyvisited the far
MourerChauviré and her husband, \Mestern province of Battambang, where the governor told
Ro1and Moureq landed in Cambo- them about a cave among limestone massifs near a village
dia h L964, they never expected called Sdao. Alocal guide led them to a rural area near the cave.
to change history She was trained formerly forested but newly planted with crops. The couple
as a paleornithologist and he, while traveled by oxcart-no cars could make the rugged trip. "It
stationed under the Rench military'toopération" program was a true frontier," MourerChauviré says. "It seemed ven-
to teach in a local school, was finishing a Ph.D. in pràhisioric few people had been in the cave before."
ceramics and modern pottery making in the province of Kam- The vast and airy shelter sits about a 10-minute waik up
pong Chhnang. Both hadworked on excavations ofPaleolithic the side of a mountain called PhnomTèakTieang. In a report
cave sites in Rance. Although Mourer's initial posting was for published in 1970, the Mourers \Mrore that the chamber is
20 months, the couple ended up staying for six years. Along "lit by numerous vents sepârâted by natural vaults in the
the way they made a discovery that transformed not only their form of arches." Those arches give the site its name, Laane
lives, but also the accepted record of Cambodian prehistory Spean, which means "Cave of Bridges." The scene todar- rs
Shortly after they arrived, the Mourers began looking for not so very difi-erent. Far from the pavement, traflic, anc
æ ARCHAEOLOGY.January,/Feb,ra. - .
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pied continually for so long.
Archaeological research here has
long been primarily concerned t
with the Angkor Empire, rvhich ai
{,
dominated the region from the 1,r:
Tools (above left) belonging to the prehistoric culture known âs the Hoâbinhian were excavated in an
The Hoabinhians
l'l,OO0-year-old layer of artifacts in Laang Spean. More Hoabinhian tools (above right) were found on seem to have butch-
the surface in another one of 13 caves the team surveyed, most of which contained prehistoric artifacts. ered their large prey
outside the cave and
The Laang Spean burials are significant because they are then carried pieces of meat inside. Archaeologists have
intact and because they provide a definite chronological and excavated an enormous number of teeth and bones from
cultural marker from which to discuss Neolithic burial prac- deer, boars, rhinos, macaques, gibbons, civets, porcupines,
tices here-andpossiblyin other areas of SoutheastAsia. Each pythons, cobras, and other animals. Many of the remains
burial contains a different assemblage of grave goods. Some show evidence ofburning, and the findings suggesr that the
were found with earthenware potteryl one with a pendant cave's inhabitants had access to awide-ranging diet, although
made from awild boar canine, andyet anotherwith decorative the majority of their protein seems to have come from large
seashells worn as bangles. Says Sophady "Each burial tells us wild cattle such as banteng and gaur. Some finds are less clear.
a different story" The team also identified evidence of tooth A crushed human skull rvas discovered amid the animal bones
ablation, the removal of particular teeth. Forestier says this and stone tools-a curiosiqg since the other human remains
practice may be associated with a ritual such as the transition were associated with Neolithic burials from centuries later.
to adulthood. Tooth ablation has also been
found among modern populations in China
and Laos, as well as regional ethnic groups
such as the Jarai in Vietnam's central high-
lands and northeastern Cambodia. Near the
remains of the woman, named by the team
Mrs. S32, excâvators uncovered a pot w'ith
an infant's bones inside. This ÿpe of Neo-
lithic jar burial is uncommon in the region,
Sophady says. 'A small baby inside a small
pot, it's very rare."
-Vÿ'hen
these Neolithic settlers buried
their dead, they dug into the cave foor,
straight into alayer of Hoabinhian artifacts.
In this mixing-up of layers and occupations,
Neolithic burial remains have been found
among stone tools and sediments dating
to the Hoabinhian period. Nevertheless,
many tools are clearly attributable to the
earlier culture. These include 372 artifacts
that closely resemble pebble tools found
in other Hoabinhian sites across Southeast
Asia. They are continuing to tell the story A Neolithic burial in
Laang Spean holds well-preserved grave goods including
of Laang Spean's Hoabinhian occupants. pottery and bangles. The team has thus far found a total of six burials in the câve,
These people were travelers who didrt't build each with its own distinctive aÊifacts.