Cardamom Mountains

The Cardamom Mountains (ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ, Chuŏr Phnum Krâvanh cuə phnum krɑʋaːɲ; ทิวเขาบรรทัด, Thio Khao Banthat thīw khǎw bān.thát), or the Krâvanh Mountains, is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia and Eastern Thailand. The majority of the range is within Cambodia. The silhouette of the Cardamom Mountains appears in the provincial seal of Trat Province in Thailand. The mountain range extends along a southeast-northwest axis from Chanthaburi Province in Thailand, and Koh Kong Province in Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, to the Veal Veang District in Pursat Province, and extends to the southeast by the Dâmrei (Elephant) Mountains. The Thai part of the range comprise heavily eroded and dispersed mountain fragments of which the Khao Sa Bap, Khao Soi Dao and Chamao-Wong Mountains, east, north and west of Chanthaburi respectively, are the most prominent. Dense tropical rainforest prevails on the wet westward slopes which annually receive from of rainfall. By contrast, only 1,000 to 1,500 mm (40 to 60 inches) fall on the wooded eastern slopes in the rain shadow facing the interior Cambodian plain, such as the Kirirom National Park. Most of the mountains are a dense wilderness, with almost no human population or activity, but on the eastern slopes, cardamom and pepper are grown commercially, and several large-scale construction projects have begun since the turn of the century. The highest elevation of the Cardamom Mountains is Phnom Aural in the northeast at . This is also Cambodia's highest peak. Other important summits in the Cambodian parts are: Phnom Samkos ( Phnom Tumpor Phnom Kmoch In Thailand, the most prominent peaks are: Khao Sa Bap Khao Soi Dao Tai Khao Chamao The Cardamom Mountains holds many historic sites from the 15th- to 17th-century specifically. This includes a number of exposed burial sites of a type known as jar burials. The burials are scattered around the mountains, set out on remote, natural rock ledges, and contains 60 cm exotic ceramic jars and rough-hewn log coffins.