Archaeometrical study of Khmer stoneware from the Angkorian period: Results from the Cerangkor Project

Abstract

In the area around Angkor, Cambodia, several ceramics kilns dating from the ninth to 15th centuries CE have been discovered since 1995. The technical, typological and compositional characterization of their production has been one of the main goals of the Cerangkor Project. Samples of green-glazed 'Kulen-type' stoneware and non-glazed stoneware produced in five kiln sites in the Angkor region were analysed chemically by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WDS-XRF) and also petrographically. The data indicate that some workshops used similar raw materials for the same types of ceramics, suggesting the exploitation of the same geological formations in the whole region. Several references groups were established for each type of stoneware offering an important database for future provenance studies of sherds from consumption sites.