An ancient statue of a Hindu god believed to be more than 1,000 years old was discovered on Thursday at Koh Ker National Park’s Prasat Chen temple, a conservationist told the Post yesterday.

APSARA Authority deputy director-general Seung Kong said workers had been cleaning the temple grounds when they found the statue under the roots of a tree.

It had been excavated and sent to the Preah Norodom Sihanouk Museum, in Siem Reap province, he said.

“It is a statue of Preah Neareay, with four arms, but the arms are broken off at the shoulders, there is no head and the legs are broken at the knees,” Seung Kong said. “We really don’t know how old the statue is, but we estimate that it is the architecture of Koh Ker, during 921AD.”

The statue was not in photographic archives compiled by French conservators, Seung Kong added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vong Sokheng at [email protected]