Phnom Kulen National Park

Twelve centuries of history. A community shaping what comes next.

1993–today - Contemporary - Ongoing research & community-based tourism

In 1993, the Cambodian government designated 37,500 hectares of Phnom Kulen as the Preah Jayavarman-Norodom Phnom Kulen National Park, expanded to 62,883 hectares in 2023. Since 1992, the site has been on Cambodia’s tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status, recognised for its ancient city remains, temples, hermit sites, hydraulic structures, and prehistoric traces.
Since 2008, ADF has been the primary research and development partner on the plateau, excavating over 20 sites alongside the APSARA National Authority. The landmark LiDAR surveys of 2012 and 2015 transformed the understanding of Mahendraparvata’s ancient urban scale. ADF’s team of archaeologists works alongside 50 local workers and guards from APSARA, with coordination of explosive ordnance disposal, topographic surveys, excavations, conservation issues and training of Cambodian experts.

In 2018, ADF has partnered with Terre Cambodge and the Ministry of Environment to establish Community-based Tourism Centres in Anlong Thom and Popel villages, offering guided treks, local crafts, and cultural and natural experiences that provide income for the inhabitants of these 2 villages 0 plateau villages. Since 2024, these centres have also received support from
Sala Bai.
Despite its significance, Phnom Kulen faces ongoing threats: poaching, encroachment with deforestation, illegal logging or unregulated tourism.
Visiting Phnom Kulen through community-guided treks is one of the most direct ways to support the people involved in the preservation of this extraordinary mountain.

1970–1996 - Modern-Conflict - Khmer Rouge stronghold & the legacy of unexploded ordnance

Phnom Kulen’s strategic elevation made it one of the earliest and most enduring Khmer Rouge strongholds, with a Khmer Rouge presence lasting until 1996–97: longer than almost anywhere else in Cambodia. That history still shapes the plateau today: some remote areas are still undergoing demining, decades after the regime’s fall, and local communities are still recovering economically.
All of ADF’s archaeological fieldwork is coordinated with explosive ordnance disposal teams before any excavation. The CBTCs guides know exactly which areas have been cleared and are safe to visit. This chapter closed the mountain to the outside world for decades and left many of its archaeological sites unexplored until the early 2000s. They are now safe to explore, with a guide, following systematic demining campaigns.

14 – 16th century - Post-Angkorian - Preah Ang Thom & the continuity of pilgrimage

Even as the Angkorian empire declined, Phnom Kulen retained its sacred character. The giant Buddha carved into the surface of an enormous boulder near the plateau summit, known as Preah Ang Thom, is one of the most holy sites in Cambodia today. The exact date of the sculpture is still debated: estimates range from the Angkorian to the post-Angkorian period, spanning the14 to the 16th century.
Surrounding archaeological evidence – pedestals, inscriptions, and traces of
wooden structures – confirms that this area was already functioning as an important pilgrimage centre by at least the 16th century.
The 550-metre laterite stairway (Phleu Chere), built on the southwest face of
the plateau, gave access to the summit. It does not link to the 9th-century urban network and is therefore likely later in date, associated with the waterfall area sites of the 10th to 12th centuries.

11th–13th century - Angkorian_Industry - The quarries: how Phnom Kulen built Angkor

From the 11th century, Phnom Kulen played an essential industrial role in the construction of the great Angkor temples. The eastern slopes of the massif are scarred by extensive sandstone quarries: their full scale only revealed by the 2012 and 2015 LiDAR surveys. Enormous quantities of
sandstone blocks were extracted here and transported, toward Angkor to build monuments including Angkor Wat and the Bayon. The blocks were transported on rafts pulled with channels dug from this area until the Angkor site.
Every stone at Angkor has a source. Much of it begins here.

802 AD - Early Angkorian_ Foundation - Mahendraparvata: the capital that launched an empire

In 802 AD, King Jayavarman II performed the devaraja ritual on the summit of Phnom Kulen, proclaiming himself a universal monarch and declaring independence from foreign authority. This ceremony naugurated what historians now call the Angkorian period — a civilisational chapter that shaped Southeast Asia for over six centuries (802–1432 AD).

The royal capital that grew here was named Mahendraparvata, “the Mountain of Great Indra.” Over 40 temples were built across the plateau, mostly single brick towers on raised platforms with surrounding walls, with rare examples of three aligned sanctuaries. Seven are relatively well-preserved today.

At the highest point of the southern plateau stands Prasat Rong Chen, a five-level pyramid whose first level measures 220 metres and whose upper three levels are built in laterite. It is the architectural ancestor of Pre Rup, Angkor Wat, and the Bayon.
LiDAR surveys conducted in 2012 and 2015 over 900 sq. km revealed the full extent of Mahendraparvata’s urban network: over 40 sq. km of parallel earthen dykes, residential plots, ponds, a large unfinished baray (reservoir), and dykes built across valleys to create essential water reserves. ADF and the
APSARA National Authority previously excavated the Royal Palace – the Banteay enclosure – a rectangular compound of approximately 600 × 400 m (over 30 ha) containing organised earthen platforms, traces of wooden buildings, laterite gutters, and brick sidewalks, oriented on an east–west axis within the ancient urban grid.

c. 1000 BC - Prehistoric - Rock paintings & the earliest traces of human presence

Phnom Kulen’s prehistoric chapter was only recently uncovered. Around a dozen
boulders scattered across the plateau bear rock paintings, a cultural practice widespread across Southeast Asia. Comparisons with similar sites in South-East Asia date these paintings to approximately 1,000 BC, making them the oldest known evidence of human presence on the mountain.
They hint at early communities who found meaning and shelter in the Kulen massif long before it became a seat of royal power.

Late 12th century - Angkorian_Late Period - Jayavarman VII & the “waterfall temple”

Jayavarman VII – the builder of the Bayon and Ta Prohm – left his mark on Phnom Kulen. Prasat Krol Romeas, known as the “waterfall temple,” is the only late 12th-century monument on the mountain. Built mostly in laterite, it has the unique distinction of extending across both banks of the river. Three rows of postholes carved into the sandstone riverbed, now marked by wood posts, are all that remain of an ancient bridge that once connected the two sides.

Just downstream lies the great waterfall, one of the most spectacular and scenic sites on the entire plateau, and a beloved destination for Cambodian visitors to this day.

10th – 12th century - Angkorian_Sacred rivers and Landscapes - Hermit retreats, sculpted rivers & the sanctified waters of Angkor

After the capital moved to Angkor, Phnom Kulen did not fade, it transformed.
The plateau became a sacred refuge for hermits, and pilgrims.
Dozens of rock shelters (poeng), located along the cliffs of the plateau and its valleys, show traces of bas-reliefs, inscriptions, meditation cells, pilgrim spaces, and larger constructions probably dedicated to teaching. Most date to the 10th and 11th centuries and are associated with Hinduism.

The most extraordinary legacy of this period is found in the riverbeds. At Kbal Spean and at the “1,000 linga” site on Phnom Kulen itself, artisans carved thousands of linga (phallic representations of Shiva) directly into
the living rock of streambeds, with sacred water as it flowed down to irrigate Angkor. Accompanying bas-reliefs depict Vishnu reclining on the naga serpent, from whose navel Brahma is born. These carvings date from the 10th to the late 12th century.
LiDAR surveys also revealed 15 groups of enigmatic earth mounds, at least 366 in total, the highest known concentration of such sites discovered so far in the region. Dating to the 10th century, their function remains unknown despite excavations by ADF and APSARA in 2013.

Pre-802 AD - Pre-Angkorian - Rival kingdoms & the unification of the Khmer lands

Before the Angkorian era, the region that would become the Khmer heartland
was divided into smaller independent kingdoms. Ancient inscriptions record that
King Jayavarman II spent the late 8th century unifying these rival principalities, a long political and military process that culminated in his choosing the plateau of Phnom Kulen as the site of a new royal capital.
Many pre-Angkorian sites across Cambodia predate Phnom Kulen, but the mountain’s strategic elevation and sacred geography made it the ideal stage for what was to come.

Research ongoing – new discoveries to come