Statue discovered by locals in Siem Reap

The Apsara Authority announced that villagers in Siem Reap province’s Puok district unearthed a potentially ancient statue of a standing female figure while digging on Monday, and had turned it in to the authority for safekeeping.

According to a statement from Apsara – the government agency tasked with overseeing the Kingdom’s Angkor Archaeological Park – Chhean Rotha, acting president of the department of conservation outside the park, received the statue along with colleagues from a local named Vat Wan.

The artefact is being held at Siem Reap’s Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum. The statue measures less than 40 centimetres tall and was discovered by villagers who had hired an excavator to deepen a local pond, according to a statement from the National Police.