VILLAGERS PLUNDER CAMBODIAN HISTORY
Copyright 2005 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ September 22nd 2005 ]

Cambodian authorities are pressing ahead with plans to stop villagers plundering more than 100 sites of historical interest and eroding the country's cultural heritage, Associated Press reports today. The villagers - many from poor families - have been selling artifacts such as beads made of the stones agate and carnelian to businessmen.

According to AP, the Culture Ministry has asked authorities to stop the villagers from digging up graves and other sites, including some which date back to 500 B.C. and others from the 9th-14th century Angkor era, when Cambodia was at the center of a mighty regional empire.

"Those people, they are so poor. They don't have jobs so they just dig the graves because they believe that in the graves they can find some valuable property ... and they can sell it," said Sok Sareth, vice governor of Banteay Meanchey province.

"We have no idea how the civilization of Angkor developed, which is pretty shocking, and we're never going to know if this scale of looting continues unabated," he added.