Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2012 11:06:29 GMT
An unknown tribe has left valuable clues in the form of 'body jars' found around the Cardamom Mountains.
Little is known about this mysterious Cambodian tribe apart from the fact that part of their burial rituals involved placing the bodies or bones of the deceased in to jars or other containers. These sites have been found in various parts of the mountains including 160ft up a cliff presumably to prevent poachers from disturbing the remains.
Radiocarbon-dating has placed the "bone jars" to between 1395 and 1650 AD during the decline of the Khmer Empire. The search goes on for more clues that could help reveal who these mysterious tribesmen were and what was behind their unusual burial practices.
Perched in some cases on precarious cliff ledges, centuries-old log coffins—such as this one, pictured alongside researcher Nancy Beavan—and "body jars" are the only known traces of an unknown Cambodian tribe. Now new dating studies are beginning to assure the unnamed culture a place in history.
Ten such burial spots have been found in the Cardamom Mountains (map) since 2003, and at least one is at least 160 feet high (50 meters)—the intention apparently being that "anyone trying to disturb the burials would break their neck," said Beavan, who led the new study.
Beavan's team has radiocarbon-dated wood, teeth, and bones from four of the sites to between A.D. 1395 and 1650, placing them smack-dab in the decline of the Khmer Empire, based in Angkor. However it's unclear what, if any, influence the empire had on these mountain people, said Beavan, of the University of Otago's Department of Anatomy in New Zealand.
Until now, experts had no idea when the sites had been established or how long they'd been in use, she added.
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/pictures/120515-cambodia-burials-body-jars-log-coffins-science/#
suzy
Little is known about this mysterious Cambodian tribe apart from the fact that part of their burial rituals involved placing the bodies or bones of the deceased in to jars or other containers. These sites have been found in various parts of the mountains including 160ft up a cliff presumably to prevent poachers from disturbing the remains.
Radiocarbon-dating has placed the "bone jars" to between 1395 and 1650 AD during the decline of the Khmer Empire. The search goes on for more clues that could help reveal who these mysterious tribesmen were and what was behind their unusual burial practices.
Perched in some cases on precarious cliff ledges, centuries-old log coffins—such as this one, pictured alongside researcher Nancy Beavan—and "body jars" are the only known traces of an unknown Cambodian tribe. Now new dating studies are beginning to assure the unnamed culture a place in history.
Ten such burial spots have been found in the Cardamom Mountains (map) since 2003, and at least one is at least 160 feet high (50 meters)—the intention apparently being that "anyone trying to disturb the burials would break their neck," said Beavan, who led the new study.
Beavan's team has radiocarbon-dated wood, teeth, and bones from four of the sites to between A.D. 1395 and 1650, placing them smack-dab in the decline of the Khmer Empire, based in Angkor. However it's unclear what, if any, influence the empire had on these mountain people, said Beavan, of the University of Otago's Department of Anatomy in New Zealand.
Until now, experts had no idea when the sites had been established or how long they'd been in use, she added.
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/pictures/120515-cambodia-burials-body-jars-log-coffins-science/#
suzy
