The ore hill of Phnom Dek, north-east of Bakan, is worked by upland smelters whose descendants the Khmer later called the iron Kuy; smelting slag round it is dated from the ninth century onward, though the largest phase of production comes after this date (board), so 1200 is steady output, not a great works.
This is where Khmer iron comes from, and there is no second source of comparable weight. The Kui also keep and catch elephants along the Dangrek. They live in the foothills and on the escarpment, on both sides of the passes (Chong Chom, Chong Sa Ngam, Chong An Ma, the Ta Muen road), and the Khmer lords of Phanom Rung, Phimai and Bakan depend on them. Modern ethnonyms are used with caution: the evidence for the hill peoples of 1200 is Chinese trade lists, Cham and Khmer stelae naming forest products, Vietnamese notices of campaigns and ethnography of later centuries.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headmen of the Kui villages (no name known)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Kuy people): the Kuy live from the southern Khorat plateau east to the Mekong and south into north-central Cambodia (Preah Vihear, Stung Treng, Siem Reap, northern Kampong Thom); the Cambodian Kuy, especially the Kuy Dek, are 'known for their role in iron smelting and blacksmithing during the Khmer empire'; the Kuy Ajiang are skilled mahouts; iron-smelting evidence in Kuy territory dates back to roughly 800 AD. The page cites no inscription.
Overlord
Angkor buys the iron and uses the elephant men; no governor is shown.
What it holds
- The iron of Phnom Dek
- Elephant catching and keeping along the Dangrek
- Village lands on the escarpment and the northern foot
How things stand that morning
Supplying iron and elephants; no event.
Wealth
Iron, elephants.
Places of note
- Phnom Dek: Ore hill north-east of Bakan.
- Prasat Ta Muen: Pass temple, rest house and hospital chapel.
- Chong Chom pass: Dangrek pass.
- Chong Sa Ngam pass: Dangrek pass east of Preah Vihear.
- Chong An Ma pass: Eastern end of the Dangrek.
- Preah Vihear: Cliff sanctuary on the escarpment.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry phnom-dek: 'steady output, not a great works'. English Wikipedia (Kuy people) gives only the roughly-800-AD slag date and the Khmer-empire smelting claim.
- Map ruling (sheet builder, pass 1): the Kui country of the Dangrek is drawn in the Khmer colour, not as self-governing peoples, for two reasons: this record gives the allegiance Khmer, and its outline encloses Koh Ker, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, Phnom Kulen and Preah Vihear, which are Khmer foundations (the record's own caveat says the Kui live in villages, not a bloc). The other three hill outlines of this researcher are drawn as peoples. The Khmer realm record says of its own drawing that the Dangrek hills are held by their own peoples under a loose Khmer claim, so the other reading is possible. The three pass anchors of this record (Chong Chom, Chong Sa Ngam, Chong An Ma) are this researcher's own and keep the peoples' colour on the unit each stands in. Undo: one name in config.py (GM_RULINGS.md, part 2).
Evidence: Archaeology of slag and later ethnography.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A block along the escarpment and its foot; the Kui live in villages, not a bloc.
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Kuy people
- English Wikipedia, Preah Vihear Temple
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.