PHNOM PENH, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Villagers in southern Cambodia's Takeo province have found two buried statues of the Buddha, which were crafted in the sixth or seventh century, the Takeo Provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts said in a news release on Thursday.
A 1.5-meter-high standing Buddha statue and a 0.8-meter-high cross-legged sitting Buddha statue were uncovered on Wednesday in Treang district's Sra Ngae commune when villagers were digging the ground for a pond.
"The two sandstone-made statues were sculpted in the Phnom Da style, sometime in the sixth or seventh century," the news release said.
Photographs released on social media by the Takeo Provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts showed that the standing statue was broken at its feet and fingers, and the seated statute was fractured in its neck.
"Both ancient artifacts were handed to the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh on Thursday for restoration and preservation," the news release said. ■
