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Where did the Khmer come from ?
by Dr. Michel Tranet . Published date: 28July 2009
This important question concerns the whole Khmer country, its culture and civilization. it concerns elements of society found at homes, graveyards, and artefacts thousands years old at prehistoric sites before the arrival of the Indians, the Thais, and the Vietnamese in our Indochinese peninsula.Our findings, based on systematic analysis, show that prehistoric and protohistoric khmer civilizations are at the root of Khmer culture which accounts for the the uniformity of the Khmer cultural basis from past to present.Remarkably, prehistoric cultural characteristics more than 2000 years old can be linked to the historic period.For example, the typical custom of wearing earrings by the Khmer and Phnong people. These factors provide solid testimonies demonstrating the origin of races and the cultural blending of civilizations between the Khmer and the Khmer Leou ( or upper Khmers). This means that no comparisons with the cultural base of the Thai or the Vietnamese originating from China can be made.This research is in agreement with the conclusions of professor G.Coedès . Namely that The Khmers are a race originating from one indigenous land that has perdured since prehistoric times but that became influenced by India’s culture in the course of time. Indeed, the influences of Indian culture resulted in a monarchical state as well as in Buddhism and brahmanism, and in the use of a written language, in prosperity for the Khmer people of the plains , turning it into a civilization distinct from the one of the Khmer Loeu. This suggests that the Khmer and Khmer Loeu belong to the same specific ethnic group.However, the presence of Hemoglobin E in the blood type is also an indication that the ethnic Khmer and the Khmer-Mon tribe of the Indochina peninsula are of a one and only nature. (M. Tranet).
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