Laang Spean Cave Battambang
Laang Spean Cave · Battambang Laang Spean · Phnom Laang Spean
Middle Paleolithic 70k → Hoabinhian 18k–3000 BP → Neolithic 6400 BCE pottery·Hoabinhian Cardamom — Laang Spean cave foragers (Battambang)·🇰🇭 Cambodia, Northwest Cambodia, Battambang Province, Rattanak District, Phnom Laang Spean limestone hill 45 km northwest of Battambang City, Cardamom foothills, Cambodia
About
About Laang Spean Cave Battambang
Laang Spean Cave Battambang — Hoabinhian masterpiece cave (70,000–550 BP, Hoabinhian main 18,000–3000 BP) at Phnom Laang Spean limestone hill 45 km NW Battambang, excavated 1964–75 by R. & C. Mourer (French Mission) and 2009–19 Franco-Cambodian. Laang Spean revealed deepest Cambodian sequence: pre-Hoabinhian 70k choppers → Hoabinhian cord-marked (6400 BCE pottery before Khorat) → Neolithic cardial → Bronze jar. Hoabinhian painted human burials, tektite tools, and 5000 BP ceramics document Cardamom forager–farmer transition. Dome cave (1000 m2) at 150 m with Cardamom hoabinhian rockshelter stratigraphy complementary to Spirit Cave Thailand.
Why it mattersCambodia's Hoabinhian dome — 70k–500 BP and 6400 BCE pottery with painted burial linking Hoabinhian to Dong Son
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 0170k choppers — Homo sapiens vs erectus?
Theories
- 01Cardamom Hoabinhian as Dong Son pottery precursor
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.70,000 BP pre-Hoabinhian choppers; Hoabinhian florescence 18,000 BP
- Period
- Middle Paleolithic 70k → Hoabinhian 18k–3000 BP → Neolithic 6400 BCE pottery
- Culture
- Hoabinhian Cardamom — Laang Spean cave foragers (Battambang)
- Builders
- Cardamom Hoabinhian hunter–gatherers
- Purpose
- Cardamom dome cave documenting Cambodia's longest foraging→Neolithic painted burial sequence
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.70,000 BP
Pre-Hoabinhian choppers knapped at Laang dome
c.6400 BCE
Corded pottery and painted ochre burial fluorescence
1964–75
Mourers reveal Cambodia's longest cave stratigraphy
On the ground
Structures & features
12.9000° N · 102.6200° E · 150 m · 2 mapped features
Dome Painted Hoabinhian Burial
burial6400 BCE painted Hoabinhian burial with ochre and corded pottery on dome cave inner chamber
12.9010° N · 102.6210° ETerrace Pre-Hoabinhian Chopper Floor
layer70k pre-Hoabinhian basalt chopper floor on limestone terrace below cave mouth
12.8990° N · 102.6190° E