Dr Beavan and Dr Halcrow of the Department of Anatomy lead a team which has been working in Cambodia on shoestring budgets for eight years.  Their dedication and passion for the research has resulted in the location of 10 of these enigmatic burial sites in the rugged Cardamom Mountains.

The burial ritual they found is unlike other previously recorded burial practices in Cambodian history.  Radiocarbon dates from four of the ten sites indicate that the burial practice was occurring in the remote and rugged Cardamom highlands from at least 1395AD to 1650AD, at the same time as the last centuries of the great Kingdom of Angkor.  However, the researchers believe that the highland people were a culturally distinct group from the lowland occupants of the Kingdom of Angkor.  Dr Beavan says that the research reveals for the first time, the practices and chronology of a people with a previously unrecorded culture and belief system during Angkorian times, and which is unlike those of lowland Khmer at any time in Cambodian history.  The project, which is planning the next field season in January 2013, aims to not only geolocate and discover the overall timespan of these lost histories of the highlands, but also what these sites can reveal about the health and demographics of these people, how they coped with changing environment conditions during this period, and any interactions they had with lowland peoples, such as trading.

The full publication reference is:
Beavan, N., Halcrow, S. et al (2012) Radiocarbon Dates from Jar and Coffin Burials of the Cardamom Mountains Reveal a Previously Unrecorded Mortuary Ritual in Cambodia’s Late- to Post-Angkor Period (15th–17th Centuries AD).  Radiocarbon 54: 1-22

Free access here

To hear radio journalist Brian Calvert's 2010 report about Drs Beavan and Halcrow's research at one of the Jar and Coffin burial sites, please click here.

To find out more about Dr Halcrow's research please click here.