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The looting of temples and burial sites has decimated thousands of years of Cambodian archaeological history. As efforts are made to return stolen artifacts, Michael Sloan investigates the black market in Khmer antiquities and the ongoing efforts to stop it.

Photography by Dylan Walker.

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The sound of shouting from Phimeneakas - a 13th-century temple in the heart of Siem Reaps Angkor Park - led tour guide Tor Vutha* to stop his car and peer through the darkness of the August night.

There were six or seven men with trucks and motorbikes trying to lift a lion statue from the ground of the temple onto a truck, he says.

At first I thought they worked for the Apsara Authority - but it was very late. I called a friend who worked as a guard and told him to wake up as something bad was happening.

Unable to lift the 150-kilogram statues and attracting unwanted attention, the would-be looters ran away before authorities arrived - leaving only cigarette butts and tyre tracks as a record of their visit.

But last year's attempted heist was only unusual because of its location, says Hab Touch, director general of heritage protection at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

Normally, [Angkor temples] are under high protection. Its worse in the border regions because its very difficult to protect the artifacts 24 hours a day, he says.

L o s t H e r i t a g eFrom his office in Phnom Penh, Hab coordinates hundreds of officials who are engaged in a battle to preserve Cambodia's histoical sites. Looted Khmer artifacts can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales from New York to Singapore.

Tales of statues stolen to order, newly discovered burial sites picked bare in hours, and the complicity of auction houses are nothing new in the struggle to protect the future of Cambodias past, he says.

Its not only a legal issue but an ethical issue. If a statue has been taken, or had one part chopped off and one left behind, is it ethical, is it right? Its an antiquity - its for the

purpose of human benefit of the world, not one or two people.

Dougald OReilly, the founder of NGO Heritage Watch, agrees and believes that the scale of looting is of such magnitude that it requires immediate and serious attention.

Thousands of years of history have been largely wiped out in the space of a decade. Cambodia has lost most of the evidence necessary for archaeologists to understand the development of Khmer culture and the rise of Angkor, he says.

B l a c k M a r k e t Tr a i lWhere and how often looting occurs is easy to chart, according to deputy head of the education and publications department of the National Museum, Visot Chhay.

The latest trend is the targeting of newly unearthed pre-Angkorian burial sites, which provide some of the earliest evidence of Khmer civilisation in Cambodia.

Its rare for researchers to find an untouched burial plot.

Maybe every three years we find a new, untouched site. The temples arent open like they were in the 1990s. Their statues dont seem to be in as much danger as other objects like metals, ceramics or gold from graves, he says.

Generally, the looted artifacts are bought from villagers by middlemen for as little as 2,000 riels for a piece of pottery and up to $1,000 for a statue.

The middlemen smuggle purchases out of the country, often through the Thai border, to be resold at perhaps ten times the price, according to Visot.

Goods are often passed to antique dealers in Bangkok, particularly in the River City area, says art historian and Friends of Khmer Civilisation founder Helen Jessup. Its a major tourist

destination with some dealers who specialise in Cambodian stuff. They wont bring out the real stuff unless someones a serious buyer.

Interpol has reported stolen artifacts being found in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Australia. Theres also a local market for the illicit goods in Phnom Penh, with artifacts making their way to Russian market to be sold to foreigners, says Visot.

Cambodians arent big collectors of antiquities, he adds. The few that do are wary of the bad luck an ancient statue or pot may carry as people often believe those objects have a spirit inside them. If you bring those kind of objects inside the house, the spirit may be bad.

T h e H u n tPreventing antiquities from leaving Cambodia is hard enough, but having them returned is even more difficult.

In 1993, UNESCO and the International Council of Museums published the catalogue containing photos and descriptions of the most prominent Angkorian statues, bas reliefs and other artifacts looted since the 1970s Lon Nol regime.

To date just 10 of these have been recovered, says Hab Touch, who along with Visot credits their return to the public attention received by the list. It made the looted objects harder to sell.

That publication forced dealers who have Cambodian collections to send them back because they cannot sell them, explains Visot.

But the list hasnt stopped some dealers from trying to sell Khmer artifacts of doubtful origin, which are still popping up everywhere from auction houses to eBay.

A Heritage Watch study showed the UK auction house Sothebys sold 377 Khmer artifacts, primarily sculptures and statues, in New York between 1998 and 2011.Over 70

In 1924, writer Andr Malraux, later France's minister of culture, is convicted of stealing priceless figurines from Banteay Srei temple as well as over one tonne of stone from Angkor Wat.

From 1973 onwards, hundreds of statues, bas reliefs and decorative columns are plundered from the Conservation d'Angkor offices. Only 10 of the 100 highest-profile items have been returned to date.

Vandalism and thefts from the main Angkor temples continue into the late 1990s, with several stolen pieces reportedly returned by Sothebys and the

New York Metropolitan Museum. Sales of stolen Khmer antiquities peak in 1997-98, coinciding with the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge which opens up overland smuggling routes to the Thai border.

Local media reports in 1999 that looters have used pneumatic drills to hack away 500 square feet of bas reliefs from the walls of 13th century Banteay Chhmar temple.

In recent years, pre-Angkorian grave sites are targeted by looters, especially in border provinces like Banteay Meanchey and Prey Veng.

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percent of the auctioned items had minimal or no history of how and when they came to leave Cambodia. Three items that didnt make it to the auction block were included in the catalogue of looted items and later repatriated to Cambodia.

P r o v i n g P r o v e n a n c eThe issue of provenance is key, says Jessup. Most museums and dealers wont touch artifacts without a clear ownership history dating back to at least 1970 when a UNESCO convention requiring states to return stolen artifacts came into force.

Antiquities taken from Cambodia before that date are exempt, unless it can be directly proved they are stolen. Unscrupulous dealers, however, can sell items with murky pasts to countries that are not signatories to the convention.

Bertrand Porte, head of the cole Franaise d'Extrme-Orient in Phnom Penh, is asked to authenticate pictures of Khmer artifacts about once a month. Some turn out to be fake, others are real and stolen.

I think most of the pieces that can be looted have been. But those pieces are still out there, he says.

Many people send me emails and say, I saw that for sale what do you think? Immediately with my colleagues we put together old photos and documents showing where it is from and send it to the Ministry of Culture and UNESCO.

One recent case involved a decorative archway called a lintel that hailed from Cambodias Angkorian era capital at Koh Ker, northeast of Siem Reap. It was owned by a collector in Canada. This lintel is very important, we know where its coming from, we have photos, says Porte.

F i g h t i n g B a c kResponsibility for protecting and policing Cambodias temples and ruins is split. The intra-ministry Apsara Authority is in charge of Siem Reaps Angkor Park, the National Authority for Preah Vihear is tasked with preserving sites in the north and the Ministry of Culture supervises the rest.

Arrests of looters in coordination with international law enforcement agencies are handled by the Heritage Police. A special Interior Ministry unit, set up in the mid-2000s, combats organised smuggling and has officers in every province

In 2010, the Culture Ministry also published the Red List of Cambodian Antiquities at Risk - a guide for customs agents, dealers and museums around the world detailing four different categories of Khmer artifacts at risk of being sold illegally.

Hab Touch says the list is part of an effort to better educate Cambodian customs officials and international authorities of what to look out for. Its success has spurred plans to create a national database of Cambodias antiquities.

Then we will know what we have and where and also the movement of the artifacts. I know its not easy but we have to do it, he says.

Another step in the fight against antiquities smuggling is building trust between villagers in remote regions and government officials, explains Visot. Local corruption in the 90s has made many people living in rural areas suspicious of handing over archaeological finds for fear that they would be sold by officials.

One recent positive sign, says Visot, has been a rise in the number of remote village delegations travelling to the National Museum and demanding to view statues and other objects theyve handed to officials.

We want them to trust. Thats why when I travel I tell people publically, please donate to the authorities, and well ensure its protection for the next generation of the nation, says Hab.

The Red List, recent agreements between Cambodia and Australia and the US, better coordination with Interpol and increased US border security after 9/11, has made moving Khmer artifacts more difficult, says Jessup.

But its still a continuing problem. Pride in their own cultural heritage among

Cambodians is going to be the ultimate protection, she says. If you educate people about their own culture and they derive a sense of pride and identity from it, I think this is probably one of the best weapons to protect it.

*The guide's name has been change to protect his identity.

Artifacts considered to be at risk of illegal export included in the 2010 Red List of Cambodian Antiquities at Risk.