To ensure the site’s sustainable development, the Sre Ampil Archaeological and Conservation Project opened a new Museum in 2006. The Museum is an important part of the SAACP. It will function independently thanks to collaboration with the provincial authorities and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. The conservation staffs of the National Phnom Penh Museum have also agreed to assist SAACP in the organization and management of the Museum. The Sre Ampil archaeological site will also be used as a permanent field research training ground for Royal University if Fine Arts students in archaeology, and possibly for students in anthropology and tourism studies from other universities.

The Sre Ampil museum construction is completely finished. The Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) funds the 2-year long project which includes the construction of a museum and an excavation survey at the Sre Ampil site.

The size of the museum is: wide= 5m, length= 10.50m, height= 5.80m, including an exhibition hall, a souvenir selling corner, and a working office. After the museum construction is completed, the following tasks must be carried out in order to provide for its sustainable operations. As some of the cultural artifacts are presently owned by villagers; they are not safe until they are brought into the museum.

The museum is built on the campus of Sre Ampil pagoda. Pagodas in Cambodia are playing very important roles as a religious place for Buddhists to learn about Buddhism, and as an education center for all kinds of people, as a meeting place. So the museum will be playing an important role to transmit the rich culture of the Sre Ampil site to those people who come to the pagoda. Students at the elementary level could learn from the museum everyday. Villagers will have an opportunity to see the culture of their homeland and they would be very proud to see their names as an object donation provided to the museum.

We hope that this kind of activity will call people to come closer to the research team, who could give them knowledge about ancient Khmer culture and civilization and the value of preserving this ancient heritage with the preservation of archaeological sites and cultural objects. The preservation is a heavy task for all members of the Cambodian society. We need to work together to protect Khmer culture and heritage. Though archaeological research team can successfully do their job to do research and preserve the site, this is hardly enough. Preservation needs the help of the villagers and other relevant stakeholders.

Located in between the two main rivers of Bassak and Lower Mekong, the Sre Ampil site is rich in mounts, where numerous cultural artifacts are notified. Resulting from the site mapping in Sre Ampil village alone in mid 2004 (the research was funded by the Ford Motor Company in 2004), it shows that there are 86 significant ancient mounts listed down into the map. From a surrounding area, there has been human and animals bones uncovered by the villagers who work in the area, and it is a very important source of archaeological study. Temple foundations scattering in the site are apparently similar to the Sombor Prei Kuk site and other sites date back to pre-Angkorian period. Moreover the names of King Jayavarman I and Bhavarman II appear only in inscriptions found in Sre Ampil and Sombor Prei Kuk site. The site is believed to have developed in the prehistoric period and may have continued to play a role throughout the Angkorian and post-Angkorian periods.

This Site needs to be studied and preserved from disturbing people. In other word we need the researchers who have different experiences from different professionals to study about culture and development in this site.

Artifacts collected from people stored in museum such as÷