UHM Archaeologist Appointed Advisor to Cambodian National Committee
Dr. Miriam Stark, an expert on Cambodian archaeology, has been officially appointed an advisor to Cambodia’s new National Committee for Khmer Culture, History and Civilization (NCKCHC), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vongsey Vissoth.
The new Committee will oversee a major update to Cambodia’s national archives and educational materials. This is aimed at incorporating recent evidence-based scholarship uncovering the major historical place in world politics, religion, and trade of the 9th – 15th century state of Angkor, and elucidating the country’s subsequent history.
“Joining NCKCHC is an honor that builds on more than three decades of cooperation between the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and the Kingdom of Cambodia in archaeology and heritage management.”
Dr. Stark (Professor, UHM Anthropology), an anthropological archaeologist, began collaborating with Cambodian archaeologist colleagues in 1996 through the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project as part of an East-West Center-funded initiative. Her research and training activities have continued through several subsequent, extramurally funded projects in multiple parts of the country. She currently works with Dr. Courtney Work (National Chengchi University, Taiwan) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts on a project entitled “Of Water, Crocodiles and Kings” (with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities). This responsive project works with Indigenous Kuy communities across four Cambodian provinces in which the Prey Lang forest is located to record and preserve archaeological and intangible heritage sites. Dr. Stark also runs the Cambodian Closure Initiative in partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which has trained Cambodian and other Southeast Asian archaeologists in forensic archaeology techniques since 2023. Two Cambodian students, Chan Dariya Nguon and Phirum Kem, are currently completing their Applied Archaeology MA degrees in the UHM Department of Anthropology.
Dr. Stark said, “Joining CKCHC is an honor that will further deepen ties between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and I am pleased to contribute to this prestigious organization.”
More than a century of archaeological, historical, and art historical research into the field of Khmer studies is now being extended by scholars and conservators from Cambodia, France, USA, Australia, Japan, China, and Germany. It is currently being channeled, via the NCKCHC, into state archives and university libraries, museums, and schools to promote a fuller understanding of Khmer history and civilization.
Dr. Stark has also served as an Archaeology member of the US State Department’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee since 2022, when she was appointed by the Biden administration to serve in this role.