Is Angkor Wat a 12th-century Facebook?
by Andrew Buncombe
Publication: The Independent UK
Author: Andrew Buncombe
Pages: 4
Language : English
“They stand and stare like silent sentinels, sensuous rather than erotic, carved with elegance and care. But exactly who are the 1,796 mysterious women on Angkor bas-reliefs, and why, more than a century after Cambodia’s famed Hindu temple was rediscovered by Western archaeologists, did it take the efforts of an amateur researcher from Florida to push experts into trying to resolve the puzzle?”
A lively report on the Devata.org project, ambitious database compilation of all female representations throughout Angkor Wat sculptures and bas-reliefs initiated by independent researcher Kent Davis.
Tags: women, apsaras, Angkorian society, archaeology
About the Author
Andrew Buncombe
South East Asia correspondent with the British daily newspaper The Independent.