Khmer inscriptions are a corpus of post-5th century historical texts engraved on materials such as stone and metal ware found in a wide range of mainland Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos) and relating to the Khmer civilization. The study of Khmer inscriptions is known as Khmer epigraphy.
Khmer inscriptions are the only local written sources for the study of ancient Khmer civilization.[1]
More than 1,200 Khmer inscriptions of varying length have been collected.[2] There was an 'explosion' of Khmer epigraphy from the seventh century, with the earliest recorded Khmer stone inscription dating from 612 AD at Angkor Borei.[3]
Beyond their archeological significance, Khmer inscriptions have become a marker of national identity.[4]
- ^ Bhattacharya, Kamaleswar (1964). "Recherches sur le vocabulaire des inscriptions sanskrites du Cambodge". Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. 52 (1): 1–72. doi:10.3406/befeo.1964.1589. ISSN 0336-1519.
- ^ Geoffroy, Bérénice; Jacques, Claude; Zéphir, Thierry (1997). L'ABCdaire d'Angkor et l'art khmer (in French). Flammarion. p. 73. ISBN 978-2-08-012555-2.
- ^ Tully, John (2006). A Short History of Cambodia: From empire to survival. Allen & Unwin. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-74115-857-1.
- ^ Ly, Boreth (2019-11-30). Traces of Trauma: Cambodian Visual Culture and National Identity in the Aftermath of Genocide. University of Hawaii Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8248-5609-0.