ABSTRACT
As the only written documents surviving to us from the Pre-Angkor and Angkor Periods, the Sanskrit and Khmer epigraphy of Cambodia has long been one of the main sources used to reconstruct early Khmer history. It is true that although the corpus contains around 1400 inscriptions, their contents deliver both varied and abundant data. Through the study of some newly discovered inscriptions, we will see here how the knowledge of a text and of its medium can—beyond the understanding of the object itself—shed light on various aspects of Khmer civilisation, starting with the ritual practices and the dating of religious monuments. In contrast to typical research focusing on the long inscriptions carved onto stone stelae, this chapter examines the writing found on small objects manufactured in precious metals.
