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The body of the statue is missing its head, feet and right hand. APSARA National Authority
For nearly a century, the head of a Buddha statue has been kept in the collections of the National Museum of Cambodia. Its body, however, was missing.
But last month, archaeologists at Cambodia’s sprawling Angkor temple complex unearthed a well-preserved torso section of a statue just 160 feet from where the head was found in 1927. They suspect that the two are a match.
“It was a big surprise when we unearthed this sculpture because all we’d found so far were small pieces,” Neth Simon, an archaeologist with the APSARA National Authority (ANA), which led the dig alongside the Archaeological Survey of India, tells Sopheng Cheang of the Associated Press.
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Archaeologists work to excavate the torso from rubble. APSARA National Authority
The torso was found alongside 29 other related fragments at the Ta Prohm Temple, part of the 155-square-mile Angkor complex that served as the capital of the Khmer Empire between the ninth and 15th centuries.
Jayavarman VII built Ta Prohm in the 12th century, when the Khmer Empire was at its peak, as a Buddhist temple dedicated to his mother. Today, Ta Prohm—also known as the “Tomb Raider Temple” for its role in the 2001 Angelina Jolie film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider—is in decay, with thick tree trunks and roots growing through the stony ruins.
Ta Prohm, along with the head and torso of the statue, is an example of the Bayon style of art, which dates to the 12th and 13th centuries, when Buddhism became the official state religion of the Khmer Empire.
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Even without its head and feet, the statue measures nearly four feet tall. APSARA National Authority
On its own, the headless statue measures nearly four feet tall with a shoulder width of almost two feet. It’s wearing jewelry, a robe and a veil, with its left hand placed across its chest, “an uncommon representation in Khmer art,” according to a statement from the ANA.
Besides its head, the torso is also missing its feet and right hand, although the archaeologists think they have found a match for the feet in the nearby rubble.
“Thus, the missing parts of the broken Buddha sculpture are nearly restored to their original form. The only missing part that has not been found is the right hand,” says the ANA, per the Phnom Penh Post’s Niem Chheng.
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Digitial reconstruction of the statue APSARA National Authority
Aided by digital scans, the researchers were able to virtually reconstruct the statue and confirm that the head, torso and feet were a match. Now, the challenge is completing this reconstruction in real life.
Simon tells the AP that her team is appealing to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art to reattach the pieces for display in the National Museum.
“As an archaeologist,” she says, “I would be really happy.”