Abstract
This paper aims to provide a glimpse into the sociopolitical settings of current archaeology in Cambodia. The archaeological training got a late start in Cambodia, beginning in 1968, and its first graduates were forced to confront a series of complications: social unrest, civil wars, and lootings. In the 1990s, National and international efforts revived and trained a new generation of archaeologists. The setting in which this new generation practices, unlike their predecessors, is not one of warfare but rather of continued lootings and developments that result in a large number of archaeological sites being destroyed for prime real estates and new road constructions without proper salvage research. However, in a few cases, some archaeologists are employed merely as salaried workers and data collectors for their international counterparts. Though the majority of research continues to be in Angkor and around large monuments, some projects have shifted focus to study early periods located outside of Angkor. The paper ends with a brief guide to the organizational structure of heritage management in Cambodia and how to obtain a research permit.
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Heng, P., Phon, K. (2017). The Position of Cambodian Archaeology in Current Sociopolitical Context. In: Habu, J., Lape, P., Olsen, J. (eds) Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_7
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