Battambang Caves 2 - Sdao area

In 2008 I joined an international caving expedition to Battambang, Cambodia.

This area is beyond Phnom Sampeu, on the main road No 10 to the Thai border. The main village is Sdao, in Rattanak Mondol district. We went here the first 2 days of the expedition.

The limestone hills are rather small here. Phnom Chak Treang

There were 3 of us, plus 2 guys from official departments, and then we picked up 2 men from a local office as well as an armed policeman, and each day we acquired a local guide - so that meant 6 locals for 3 of us (not including our driver).

The first cave we visited was basically one chamber, with Buddha statues and beds.

Graffiti in Khmer and Thai

We walked around the field to the 2nd cave. At the entrance a farmer had dug in the floor to deepen it for monks and had found pottery with bones and stone tools, so our official guys were able to collect some pieces.

A ladder led up and another led down to a continuation of the cave.

and there were some big roots in the cave

From here we went to an archaeological site, Laang Spean. It is is bit further around the hill.

It is a large rock shelter.

French archaeologists dug here in the 1960’s. There are 3 trenches, and they found stone tools from 6-7000 BC and pottery from 4290 BC.

Spean means bridge and there is an impressive rock bridge at the top end of the cave.

© Liz Price
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