This undated photo shows a sandstone statue unearthed at the Ta Prohm temple restoration site in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. (ANA/Handout via Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists have unearthed six centuries-old sandstone statues at the Ta Prohm temple restoration site in northwest Cambodia's Angkor archaeological park, the Apsara National Authority (ANA) said in a statement on Thursday.
The ANA is the government agency responsible for managing, safeguarding and preserving the Angkor archaeological park, a UNESCO-listed world heritage site, situated in Siem Reap province.
Net Simon, an archaeologist at the ANA's Department of Conservation of Monuments and Preventive Archaeology, said the discovered statues included two statues of Buddha sheltered by a Naga, two Buddha statues with broken heads and hands, one Avalokitesvara (deity), and one pediment with a Buddha carving.
"The statues were found buried under the platform of the Southern Gate of Ta Prohm Temple," she said in the statement, adding that the team found the statues when the ANA experts, in cooperation with the Archaeological Survey of India, began to restore the gate.
Built in the late 12th century under the reign of King Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm is among the key temples in the 401-square km Angkor archaeological park, which is the most popular tourist destination in the Southeast Asian nation.
According to the state-owned Angkor Enterprise, the Angkor park received some 700,000 international tourists during the January-November period this year, earning a gross revenue of 32.5 million U.S. dollars from ticket sales.■
