A06_05

An original contribution to document some Khmer bronze statues : analysis and radiocarbon dating of their iron backbone

Delque-kolic E¹,  LEROY S², VEGA E², VINCENT B³, McGILL F⁴, FENN M⁴, CREANGE S⁵

¹LMC14/LSCE/CNRS, Gif Sur Yvette, France, ²LAPA-IRAMAT/CNRS, Gif Sur Yvette, France, ³EFEO, Siem Reap, Cambodge, ⁴Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, United States, ⁵Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

In 1964, a set of 53 Buddhist bronze statues were discovered at Prakhon Chai (Buriram province, Thailand) without any indication of the origin of the statues nor the reason of their presence. The stylistic study of some of them suggested that they could have different geographical origins within a chronology ranging from the seventh to the ninth century. Such a hoard constitutes an invaluable source of historical information that is worth investigating beyond the stylistic assessment. Yet all the statues were lost-wax cast in copper alloy and reinforced with internal iron armatures for the largest ones. As demonstrated for several years by the authors, a methodological approach combining metallographic observations, chemical analysis of slag inclusions and radiocarbon dating of the iron can deliver technological and chronological outcomes. As part of the IRANGKOR project, which focuses on the production and use of iron in the areas of Cambodia and northeastern Thailand, we then proposed to focus on the iron made armatures that are not used to be considered as a critical data for that kind of art object.

We will present the approach specifically developed for the ¹⁴C dating of such valuable objects and the decisive results obtained for four bronze statues from the Prakhon Chai hoard. Beyond the expected comparison with the chronology that has been suggested from stylistic indicators, the radiocarbon dates are also intended to be reinvested in a broader framework of comparison of data, by confronting them with the metallurgical observations previously obtained within the IRANGKOR project.