Prasat Ak Yom, ca. 6th-early 8th c., on the west side of Angkor, at the west end of the West Baray (reservoir). It is possible that the first Ak Yom was constructed by King Bhavavarman I (r. ca. 550 - 611 A.D.), whose capital was at Wat Phu on the Mekong.

Thus, Ak Yom - and many other temples in Cambodia - were built by kings who ruled from a distance. As was often the case in Khmer history, temples were constructed at the site of military victories, to commemorate and consolidate a new power in the region.

Description

Prasat Ak Yom is a good example of an early, pre-Angkorian pyramid temple. If a 6th-7th c. temple was once located at the site of the later Bayon temple, Ak Yom gives us some idea of what it may have looked like. The pyramid is made of brick and has three terraces. The base terrace is 100 meters on a side and rises up at least 2 meters. The middle terrace is 40 m. on a side and goes up 2.45 m. The last terrace is about 15 m. on a side and is approximately 3 m. tall. This places the floor of the central sanctuary (now in ruins) about 7.5 m. above ground level.

The sides of the terraces of the pyramid were decorated with representations of "flying palaces," a motif that would disappear by 850 or so. There was no brick covering on the top of the lower terrace except for the axial paths to the staircases. This terrace was made of a layer of sand and gravel mixed with dirt. The two top terraces were paved but their fill was just sand and roughly-cut blocks.

Ak Yom is the first pyramid temple to be constructed in Cambodia. Geologists believe the Great Lake, or Tonle Sap Lake, once extended much closer to the Angkor region. If so, Ak Yom may have been located in an area where flooding was not uncommon. Perhaps the central sanctuary was raised 7-8 m. above ground level to keep it safe from flooding. At the same time, one means of exalting an image or sanctuary is to construct it as high up as possible, above everything else around it.

The main sanctuary of Ak Yom is square in ground plan. Originally, it had one doorway on the east side but later on in time, doors were cut into its other 3 walls. A stairway now leads up to the sanctuary on each side. Two sanctuaries were excavated at the southeast and southwest corners of the middle terrace, and two other intermediate sanctuaries were discovered. This would bring the number of secondary sanctuaries around the main sanctuary to 12. The excavated sanctuaries also had "flying palace" reliefs. Inside the remains of one of these sanctuaries on the southeast side was a small pit walled in bricks. At its bottom, among sandstone debris, was a small prehistoric hatchet in stone.

In 1932, excavators found the walls of a 6th-century sanctuary inside the walls of the current central sanctuary. The earlier brick walls had been covered both on the inside and the outside with brick, and so they were completely hidden from view. Since holes were found for wooden beams inside the 6th-century remains, the earlier roof is thought to have been made of wood, a common feature in the earliest temples. When an interest arose in vaulting the tower in brick, the walls were made thicker inside and out to support the vault, and it was then constructed. According to the survey results, the earlier and later sanctuaries have basically the same format.

History and Remains

The central sanctuary, east door, south door jamb, has an inscription dated to 717 A.D., while the south doorway, east door jamb has a 704 inscription. During the excavation of Ak Yom in 1932, it was remarked that these door jambs were second-hand and did not originate with this sanctuary. At the same time, the style of the lintels found at the site dates them to the 6th and 7th centuries. The logical conclusion from these finds is that the original lintels were removed when the brick encasing was added around 700 or so. It was at that time that the south, north, and west doorways were added to the sanctuary. Once the doorways were completed, they were carved with the above-mentioned inscriptions on door jambs that came from the preceding format of the temple - and from other unknown temple(s).

On the east side, the earlier staircase underneath the later (700 A.D.) stairway was narrower than that succeeding it. Only the eastern staircase was completely excavated. It had 7 steps in sandstone, narrow, bordered by two socles of side walls in brick, carved with moldings. A moonstone step in sandstone, with no carving on it, was at the base of the staircase. The outer casing of a later, laterite top terrace abutted against these side walls of the staircase. The architects observed that the top level of the second terrace had been carted away at some point, since the lowest step of this earlier staircase was .6 meters above the current level of the second terrace. The second terrace seems to have been constructed completely in brick, while the lowest terrace was solid earth with a small brick retaining wall around it.

During the excavation of the inner sanctuary several bronze statuettes dating to the 6th-7th c. were found lying under the debris, on top of the north doorway behind the decorative lintel. Four were of the bodhisattva Lokeshvara (4.5 to 14 in. high) and one of Maitreya (14 in. high), the future Buddha. Most had their hands in vitarka mudra and had portable attributes which have mainly disappeared. Another bronze statuette, 17 cm. tall, of a bodhisattva, was found at the foot of the doorway. Two Brahmanical statues were also found that date from the early 7th c. These statues were placed in the Louis Finot Museum, Hanoi.

An enormous pedestal 3 meters on a side was found in the center of the sanctuary, which must have once held a very large statue. It was broken into 3 fragments, two of which had been overturned to look for sacred treasure put in their cavities. Underneath the pedestal was a shaft descending into the substructure of the sanctuary. The shaft was filled up later with debris from its same excavation. The shaft starts to the east of center and joins the vertical axis and middle of the pedestal at about 3 m. of depth, and abuts then on a subterranean room whose flooring was 12.25 m. below the blocks of sandstone that support the pedestal. This chamber was 2.67 m. on a side with walls 2.7 m. high. Over the walls was a corbelled vaulting that led to the shaft. The flooring was comprised of three layers of brick, and was 15 cm. thick.

Some remains were among the debris that had fallen into the underground chamber and its shaft:

a) 5 square sandstone blocks, 35 cm. long and 25 wide and 34 across. "Excessively polished on all sides." Two of the blocks on one side had traces of corroded copper. A bronze fragment was imbedded in another block.

b) one sandstone statuette, very deteriorated, representing a crouching male deity.

c) one monolithic sandstone pedestal

d) many other remains: a 57 cm. block of sandstone shaped like an ax, several fragments of colonnettes and sandstone bits, most likely from the pedestal; and two gold leaves, 2.5 cm. wide and 85 cm. long, with an elephant in relief.

A navagraha or planetary relief dated to 1001 A.D. by its inscription, was found in the southeast sanctuary (this is one of the 12 surrounding the central tower).

There were other, later remains on the second terrace that were difficult to figure out. They were connected to each other by brick walkways, posterior to the construction of the pyramid. These walkways had imbedded fragments of sandstone, bits of colonnettes and door jambs, and other debris that must have come from the secondary sanctuaries on the pyramid.