DOI: 10.4324/9781351128940-25 360 Introduction Inspired by the seminal work of Georges Groslier, ‘Recherches sur les Cambodgiens’ (1921), the objectives here are to explore various aspects of stone material culture in an attempt to establish spa- tial and temporal connections between sandstone typology, sourcing, and procurement on one hand and the creation of sculptures and Angkorian architecture on the other. The ancient Cambodian culture is best known through its splendid and unique monumental architecture at Angkor, a major cultural centre and home to various capitals which flourished during the Angkor Period, from the beginning of the 9th to the 15th centuries CE. In Pre-Angkorian times (c. 550 to 800), shrines and sanctuaries were built with wood, bricks, and laterite, 1 while stone usage was restricted to inscribed stelae, statuary, and their supporting pedestals, as well as some specific architectural and decorative elements such as door jambs, doorsteps, small columns, and lintels. 2 At the dawn of the Angkor Period, this tradition persisted, but sandstone gradually replaced brick and became the builders’ material of choice for the temples erected between the 11th and 13th century. Laterite, widely avail- able and easily processed, was still extensively employed, particularly for basement courses, cause- ways, and enclosure walls, and sometimes as the primary material for entire sanctuaries (Figure 20.1). The tradition of sandstone building and carving tradition persisted until the decline of Ang- kor and as French geologist Edmond Saurin (1954, 620) aptly wrote, (translated): 3 ‘Khmer art in its golden age has been the art of sandstone’. Interestingly, stone deities were carved from very similar sandstone types—or lithotypes—and ostensibly different from those used for archi- tectural elements and sculptures. This raises a series of important questions related to material properties and availability, economic constraints, beliefs, and rituals, as well as agency, choice, and the traditions of artists and guilds. This chapter focuses on recent investigations into this vital material and evaluates some of these issues to understand how sandstone was harnessed and contributed to Angkor’s imperial development. Sandstone Lithology and Spatial Distribution Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed of an assemblage of mineral grains originating from the disaggregation of preexisting rocks whose fragments were transported, deposited, compacted, and cemented through geological processes. Following some early petrographic 20 FROM QUARRIES TO TEMPLES Stone Procurement, Materiality, and Spirituality in the Angkorian World Christian Fischer, Federico Carò and Martin Polkinghorne