An Angkor Puzzle – Solved

For almost a century, the National Museum of Cambodia displayed the head of a Buddha statue without its body.

Now, archeologists working at Cambodia’s centuries-old Angkor complex say they have found a match.

Just 160 feet from where the head was found in 1927, they found a well-preserved torso of a statue of Buddha, and an optical-electronic scan confirmed it’s a match for the previously found head, explained the Associated Press.

The torso was found along with 29 fragments that are likely part of the same statue.

“It was a big surprise when we unearthed this sculpture because all we’d found so far were small pieces,” archeologist Neth Simon, one of the leaders of the dig, told the newswire.

The torso, probably dating to the 12th or 13th century, was found at the Ta Prohm temple, part of the Angkor complex that was once part of the capital of the Khmer (Cambodian) Empire between the ninth and 15th centuries, wrote Smithsonian Magazine.

Ta Prohm, along with the head and newly found torso, is an example of the Bayon art style, typical of the 12th and 13th centuries when Buddhism was the official state religion of the Khmer Empire.

The headless statue is nearly four feet tall, with a shoulder width of almost two feet, and adorned in jewelry. It sports a robe and a veil, with its left hand across its chest, which Simon said is an uncommon gesture in Khmer art.

Meanwhile, the digital scan also confirmed a match for the feet, found by the team nearby.

Now, the only missing part of the statue is the right hand.

The next step for the archeologists is to complete the reconstruction. The team is appealing to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art to be allowed to reattach these newly found pieces, which have been apart for almost a century, and display them in the National Museum.

“As an archeologist,” said Simon, “I would be really happy.”

Editor’s Note: While publishing our item on Thursday on Lesotho, we encountered some issues with our system. As a result, some of our readers did not receive the latest news on Lesotho and new tariffs announced by the United States. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced a pause on most tariffs for 90 days. It remains unclear to date if the pause impacts Lesotho and whether its new tariff rate will be reduced.