Reinterpretation of an archaeological pebble culture from the Middle Mekong River valley, Cambodia

Abstract

In 1963, E. Saurin and J.‐P. Carbonnel discovered the Sre Sbov site on an alluvial terrace of the Mekong River in central Cambodia. Saurin described a lithic typology dating to the Lower/Middle Pleistocene from this site. Although the original lithic assemblage has been lost, this typology has been used continuously as a reference by Southeast Asian prehistorians. In 2007, a Khmer–French team conducted excavations at Sre Sbov that yielded numerous pebbles and cobbles showing apparently convincing handmade removals, as Saurin had previously described. However, an in‐depth study of this assemblage, combined with a geological survey of the area, led to the conclusion that the stones were, in fact, of natural origin, and that for this reason their typology should be disregarded. Using satellite imagery and geological surveys, we explain how such a misinterpretation may have occurred and define a “buffer zone,” corresponding to the maximal extent of the proto‐Mekong River, where fluvially reworked pebbles and cobbles resembling artifacts may be recovered. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The geomorphological characteristics of the Mekong River in northern Cambodia: A mixed bedrock–alluvial multi-channel network

“…Without superimposition or flooding it is difficult to imagine an entrenched river opening linear weaknesses in the bedrock by lateral cutting alone. Rather the river seems to have begun to incise into an alluvial bed during the Quaternary, some 600,000 years BP (Carbonnel, 1972;Demeter et al, 2010). Consequently, the channel network, in part, must be the result of flow being superimposed on lines of bedrock weakness from that time until present.…”

Quest for the Australasian impact crater: Failings of the candidate location at the Bolaven Plateau, Southern Laos

“…1) is the "pebbly laterite" or "pebble-in-laterite" horizon, or clearly "tektite-bearing" horizon, because indochinites, particularly the layered Muong Nong-type ones, have often been found in this unit. The unit has been described in numerous geological (e.g., Duangkrayom et al, 2014) and also archeological and paleontological studies, for example, Demeter et al (2010) andForestier et al (2014), and references therein. From tektite studies, Fiske et al (1996) and a recent paper by Tada et al (2020) reviewing previous works on AAT from this unit may be most informative.…”

Nature and provenance of the sandstone used for Bayon style sculptures produced during the reign of Jayavarman VII

“…In Kratie province, the studied quarries are located in the district of Kratie, and are known under the names of Thmei Sandan and Trapeang Tuol Kruos (Bruguier, 2006). Recent detailed stratigraphic studies in Sre Sbov, a village about 24 km north Thmei Sandan and Trapeang Tuol Kruos, show that Quaternary deposits are 1e2 m thick and uncomformably overlie the Triassic Indosinian sandstone (Demeter et al, 2010).…”