Friday, 6 February 2009

Temple watch: Evolution be damned...


The Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 05 February 2009
Dave Perkes

One of the mysteries of Angkor is a carved figure of a dinosaur that looks suspiciously like a stegosaurus. There is some speculation as to its origin. I have seen photos of it, and even a restaurant in Siem Reap, Goodysaurus, was named after it.

Some say it's an original carving, but I don't believe the ancient Khmers would have known about stegosauruses. Was it carved by a temple restorer as a bit of a joke, or has Cambodia got the equivalent of the Loch Ness monster? I had never seen this carved figure in situ, so I asked one of my lead guides, Ta Elit, exactly where it was. He told me that it was in a quiet part of Ta Prohm and is easily missed by the casual visitor. With the aid of a detailed plan of the temple, I found the carving on the east side of the West Gopura to the right of the entry tower. It certainly looked like a dinosaur and appeared very authentic. I did some research and found fanciful accounts on the web of humans existing with dinosaurs that I found quite amusing. My conclusion about this carving is that it may be a Sumatran rhino or even a pangolin, which have a similar shape.

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