Editing History of Cambodia (section)

== Prehistory and early history ==
{{main article|Early history of Cambodia}}

[[Radiocarbon dating]] of a cave at [[Laang Spean]] in [[Battambang Province]], northwest [[Cambodia]] confirmed the presence of [[Hoabinhian]] stone tools from 6000 to 7000 BCE and pottery from 4200 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim Schliesinger|title=Ethnic Groups of Cambodia Vol 1: Introduction and Overview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TkjBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year=2015|publisher=Booksmango|isbn=978-1-63323-232-7|page=1}}</ref><ref name="Chandlerp13">David Chandler, ''A History of Cambodia'' (Westview Publishers: Boulder Colorado, 2008) p. 13.</ref> Starting in 2009 archaeological research of the ''Franco-Cambodian Prehistoric Mission'' has documented a complete cultural sequence from 71.000 years BP to the [[Neolithic]] period in the cave.<ref>{{cite journal |title= The Hoabinhian from Laang Spean Cave in its stratigraphic, chronological, typo-technological and environmental context (Cambodia, Battambang province) |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.06.008 |volume=3 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |pages=194–206|year= 2015 |last1= Forestier |first1= Hubert |last2= Sophady |first2= Heng |last3= Puaud |first3= Simon |last4= Celiberti |first4= Vincenzo |last5= Frère |first5= Stéphane |last6= Zeitoun |first6= Valéry |last7= Mourer-Chauviré |first7= Cécile |last8= Mourer |first8= Roland |last9= Than |first9= Heng |last10= Billault |first10= Laurence |bibcode=2015JArSR...3..194F }}</ref> Finds since 2012 lead to the common interpretation, that the cave contains the archaeological remains of a first occupation by hunter and gatherer groups, followed by [[Neolithic]] people with highly developed hunting strategies and stone tool making techniques, as well as highly artistic pottery making and design, and with elaborate social, cultural, symbolic and exequial practices.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002291/229174e.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002291/229174e.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title= Human origin sites and the World Heritage Convention in Asia – The case of Phnom Teak Treang and Laang Spean cave, Cambodia: The potential for World Heritage site nomination; the significance of the site for human evolution in Asia, and the need for international cooperation | publisher= World Heritage |access-date=8 July 2015}}</ref> Cambodia participated in the [[Maritime Jade Road]], which was in place in the region for 3,000 years, beginning in 2000 BCE to 1000 CE.<ref>Tsang, Cheng-hwa (2000), "Recent advances in the Iron Age archaeology of Taiwan", Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 20: 153–158, doi:10.7152/bippa.v20i0.11751</ref><ref>Turton, M. (2021). Notes from central Taiwan: Our brother to the south. Taiwan's relations with the Philippines date back millennia, so it's a mystery that it's not the jewel in the crown of the New Southbound Policy. Taiwan Times.</ref><ref>Everington, K. (2017). Birthplace of Austronesians is Taiwan, capital was Taitung: Scholar. Taiwan News.</ref><ref>Bellwood, P., H. Hung, H., Lizuka, Y. (2011). Taiwan Jade in the Philippines: 3,000 Years of Trade and Long-distance Interaction. Semantic Scholar.</ref>

Skulls and human bones found at [[Samrong Sen]] in [[Kampong Chhnang Province]] date from 1500 BCE. Heng Sophady (2007) has drawn comparisons between Samrong Sen and the circular earthwork sites of eastern Cambodia. These people may have migrated from South-eastern China to the Indochinese Peninsula. Scholars trace the first cultivation of rice and the first bronze making in Southeast Asia to these people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/asian_perspectives/v039/39.1albrecht.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/asian_perspectives/v039/39.1albrecht.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Circular Earthwork Krek 52/62: Recent Research on the Prehistory of Cambodia |publisher=Project MUSE |access-date=7 July 2015 }}{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

2010 Examination of skeletal material from graves at [[Phum Snay]] in north-west Cambodia revealed an exceptionally high number of injuries, especially to the head, likely to have been caused by interpersonal violence. The graves also contain a quantity of swords and other offensive weapons used in conflict.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Bioarchaeological evidence for conflict in Iron Age north-west Cambodia - Examination of skeletal material from graves at Phum Snay in north-west Cambodia revealed an exceptionally high number of injuries... |journal= Antiquity | publisher= Cambridge University Press |date= 2 January 2015 |volume= 85 |issue= 328 |pages= 441–458 |doi= 10.1017/S0003598X00067867 |last1= Domett |first1= K. M. |s2cid= 162907346 |doi-access= free }}</ref>

The [[Iron Age]] period of [[Southeast Asia]] begins around 500 BCE and lasts until the end of the Funan era - around 500 A.D. as it provides the first concrete evidence for sustained maritime trade and socio-political interaction with India and South Asia. By the 1st century settlers have developed complex, organised societies and a varied religious cosmology, that required advanced spoken languages very much related to those of the present day. The most advanced groups lived along the coast and in the lower Mekong River valley and the delta regions in houses on stilts where they cultivated rice, fished and kept domesticated animals.<ref name="Stark2006" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/people/faculty/stark/pdfs/2003_AngkorBorei.pdf |title=Art and Archaeology of Fu-Nan |publisher=Department of Anthropology College of Social Sciences University of Hawaii |access-date=7 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172505/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/people/faculty/stark/pdfs/2003_AngkorBorei.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/article/view/9966/0 |title= Trade and Exchange Networks in Iron Age Cambodia: Preliminary Results from a Compositional Analysis of Glass Beads - Beads made of glass and stone found at Iron Age period sites (500 BCE – 500 CE) in Southeast Asia are amongst the first signs for sustained trade and sociopolitical contact with South Asia... | publisher= Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association |doi= 10.7152/bippa.v30i0.9966 |doi-broken-date= 1 November 2024 |access-date=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{citation-attribution|1={{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Ross|editor-first=Russell R.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/89600150/|title=Cambodia: a country study|date=1990|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]]|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=4, 6, 20, 22, 59, 69|oclc=44355152}}}}</ref>