Kbal Spean

Tucked away in the jungles of Angkor, Cambodia is a small river that runs over a series of elaborate carvings that have been etched both along the shoreline and into the very stone of the riverbed itself.

Created sometime around the 11th and 12th century, the carvings at in the Kbal Spean River look like something right out of an Indiana Jones production diary. The designs range from fields of low circles that almost look like holy cobblestones to ornate images of Hindu deities carved in relief on the rocks. Not all of the carvings seem to have originated in the same era, having been added to over the millennia, but today, they all look like they are of a piece.

The site is also known as the “Valley of 1,000 Lingas.” This common name is in reference to the low carved circles that were once mound-shaped representations of the Hindu god Shiva, called lingas. In contrast, there are also a number (though not so many) of designs symbolizing the yoni, a symbol for the Hindu goddess Shakti.

The site looks not unlike something that would have come out of a Hollywood storyboard, all fearsome gods and cryptic symbols, barely hidden beneath the jungle undergrowth. Whether you are visiting for a sense of adventure, archaeology, or simple history, the Kbal Spean carvings won’t let you down.