Illicit Antiquities
Research Centre
against the theft & traffic
of archaeology

Report from Southeast Asia

Rachanie Thosarat

9th Office of Archaeology and Museums
Phimai
Thailand

Culture Without Context

Issue 8,
Spring 2001

Thailand has legislation designed to safeguard cultural heritage, and yet, despite this, Thailand is also a large market for the sale of illegal antiquities. From time to time, the police undertake a ‘crack down’, but, as the Internet will soon reveal, dealers are very determined. Thailand has not yet signed the 1970 UNESCO Convention but it is hoped that it will do so in the foreseeable future. Burma also has laws in place to protect the looting and marketing of illegal antiquities, but the border with Thailand is long, and many items such as wooden Buddhas can easily be sent for sale to Bangkok or for illegal export. In Vietnam, looting has grown dangerously with the development of tourism, and antique shops now openly sell looted antiquities. Many Iron Age sites have been systematically looted for small items of saleable jewellery.

The most serious area of concern, however, is Cambodia. Here, looters can take advantage of the many large temples which are set in remote areas. Most infamous is Banteay Chmar, where an entire wall was removed for sale (Fig. 1). But recent visits by archaeologists to such sites as Beng Mealea, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, and Koh Ker have revealed systematic looting there too on a virtually industrial scale. The development of mass tourism to Angkor and the opening of the countryside to foreign visitors has only made the situation worse.

Figure 1: Banteay Chmar, Cambodia, showing the hole left by the theft of a section of wall relief. Return to text

Yet not only is the historic heritage of Cambodia under threat, the situation as regards prehistoric sites has also recently worsened. The prehistory of Cambodia is virtually untouched and unknown, but last year, when a new road was built, a large Iron Age site was discovered at the village of Phum Snay in Banteay Meanchay province, about 75 kilometres west of Angkor. Professor Charles Higham, Dr Dougald O’Reilly and I were given emergency permission by the Cambodian government to undertake a rescue programme there.

The area is very poor and the villagers live in very primitive conditions — their houses are made of wood and walled with leaves, there is no electricity. When an Iron Age cemetery was revealed under their village, they began wholesale looting. The village today looks as if it has been struck by a hurricane of mortar bombs. There are pock marks everywhere (Figs. 2 & 3). When foreign archaeologists visit, accompanied by local officials of the cultural office, the villagers are told that they are destroying their cultural heritage and are asked to stop, but carry on digging regardless under the very noses of the visiting officials. When we visited the site in January 2001, close inspection of the fields ransacked by looters revealed that some were covered in random pits of various sizes and shapes, but more recent ones had an orderly plan to them. The latter area contains plots made available for a fee, which accounts for the neater lines of looters pits. Looters place thorn barriers on certain tracks so that, if necessary, they can quickly escape. We employed guards for the 5 by 15 metre excavation area.

	Figure 2: Phum Snay, Cambodia. Looters' holes. Return to text
	Figure 3: Phum Snay, Cambodia.  Looters' holes. Return to text

The village is littered with broken pottery vessels, iron artefacts, heaps of human skulls and broken human bones (Figs. 4 & 5). The villagers described burials with bronze helmets complete with gilding and iron horns, bronze armour, and much else. We found skulls with green bronze corrosion all over them which confirm this story, although the villagers really only seek beads of carnelian, agate and glass. The finds are bought by middlemen and taken to the Thai border. There, they appear in the Aranyaprathet market, or find their way to Bangkok antique shops. The villagers make very little money, but will continue until there is nothing left. While we were excavating at Phum Snay, we heard of another site recently discovered which was already being destroyed. There will be many more and it seems that the chances of any being left intact are virtually nil. When this destruction was reported in the Phnom Penh press, it only encouraged collectors to turn up and buy directly from the villagers. Some young Americans came to buy, and probably wanted to make a profit on their return to the USA. It is cheaper than buying beads at the Russian Market in Phnom Penh.

	Figure 4: Phum snay, Cambodia.  Human remains left behind by looters. Return to text
	Figure 3: Phum Snay, Cambodia.  Human bones left behind by looters. Return to text

Irrespective of legislation and the best intentions of a few people in official positions, there is no clear path for improving this situation. The Banteay Chmar test case shows that, with sharp eyes and determination, it is possible to recover stolen material. Yet even so, although the Banteay Chmar reliefs have now been returned to Cambodia, they are not back at the site. Other reliefs and heads are being lost daily, via routes that go into Thailand and by sea to Singapore or vice versa. The US government has introduced a law banning the importation of Cambodian antiquities, and it would be a step in the right direction if other Western countries were to follow suit.

The looting and sale of antiquities is not an item high on the agenda of any government in Southeast Asia. However, encouraging tourism and attracting foreign currency are both important objectives. In Thailand, the Government has undertaken many initiatives to promote cultural tourism. There are several examples: the Phanom Rung Historic Park, the Sukhothai Historic Park, the Phimai Historic Park, regional museums such as the King Narai museum at Lopburi and a new museum planned for Surin. Much wealth has been brought to the village of Ban Chiang through its World Heritage status, even if — paradoxically — the villagers now benefiting were enthusiastic looters in the 1970s. The construction of village museums, like the one at Ban Prasat in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, has attracted many visitors and now there are souvenir shops there.

Similar approaches in other countries would certainly be beneficial, for the local people need to realize that their cultural heritage is a way of ensuring prosperity indefinitely, it is not just there for immediate sale to dealers. Cambodia has the priceless advantage of Angkor — a world-class site. It is attracting a growing number of visitors, and is administered by a separate department of state, known as APSARA. The staff of APSARA are doing excellent work in the area of conservation and protection, and employ cultural police for protecting the monuments. Looting and destruction persist, but not in the frenzied way seen at other sites. The rest of Cambodia is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. This Department needs a huge injection of funds to encourage the implementation of a programme of historic park creation on the Thai model. It would require the construction of roads, museums and visitor accommodation. How can this be done? The road from Angkor to Banteay Srei, about 25 km long, is now being constructed — by hand. Women and children carry stones in baskets, and lay them out on the road. Then a steamroller flattens them. They are paid with rice. It takes about 6 hours to reach Banteay Chmar from Angkor, the distance by road is about 150 km, but it is hardly any distance from the Thai border. A road linking Angkor with the Thai Historic Parks of Phimai and Phanom Rung could follow the old course of the Angkorean Highway.

Banteay Chmar is breathtaking. It is vast, ruinous, but its walls are covered in wonderful bas reliefs. Many sections of the wall have collapsed, presumably the reliefs are lying face down on the ground. Professor Higham and I were the only visitors there during the course of an entire day, but with investment in roads and facilities it could become one of the outstanding tourist destinations in Southeast Asia. The local people would then benefit financially and have a stake in safeguarding it. This same situation could apply to the Kulen uplands. There, one can only gain admittance by paying the local army unit. It could also apply to Koh Ker, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, and Beng Mealea, to name but a few of the major provincial temples. But the success of such a policy relies upon there being something left to see, and this depends entirely on the political will of the Government in Phnom Penh to put in place protective measures and to punish those who break the law.

What approaches and messages will be particularly appropriate in the region? Any approach to Southeast Asian governments should include encouragement:

1. to strengthen regional cooperation against illegal looting and marketing of antiquities;
2. to consider the implementation of investment to encourage tourists to visit but not buy;
3. as in Thailand, to develop a rural education programme at village level to inform villagers of the potential value of cultural heritage;
4. to enforce strictly laws forbidding the marketing and sale of antiquities;
5. to engage in inter-governmental discussions to secure cooperation against illegal trade in antiquities between the exploited poorer countries and the rich countries in which the dealers operate;
6. to seek international funding to develop the infrastructure needed to create a system of Historic Parks for tourist development.

First posted September 2001; Page design updated September 2006