Abstract
This is the first time an archaeobotanical analysis based on macroremains, both charred and desiccated, from Cambodia is reported. The archaeobotanical samples are rich and provide evidence of rice processing, consumption of non-indigenous pulses, and the use of economic crops. The evidence is supported by data from inscriptions, texts and historical ethnography. This study demonstrates that the city of Angkor in the 14th and 15th centuries CE, despite its decline, was still occupied. Angkor’s inhabitants continued their everyday lives cultivating and consuming their staple food, rice, with a suite of pulses, and also used the harvests in the performance of rituals.
Highlights
From its vast urban centre on the northern flood plain of the Tonle Sap lake, Angkor is recognised by its unique monumental and artistic artefacts, its dynamic cultural influence and its enduring significance to Cambodian identity and world heritage
Other economic crops found in Trench 4 are sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), mungbean (Vigna radiata), yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), cotton (Gossypium sp.) and Indian kapok or silk cotton tree
The samples were collected during excavations to consider elite craft production, they relate to contexts deposited after the foundry and sculpture workshop had ceased operations (Polkinghorne et al, 2014)
Summary
From its vast urban centre on the northern flood plain of the Tonle Sap lake, Angkor is recognised by its unique monumental and artistic artefacts, its dynamic cultural influence and its enduring significance to Cambodian identity and world heritage. Archaeobotanical research at Angkorian archaeological sites has been limited. Analysis of plant consumption at Angkor Thom started with palynology commissioned by French archaeologist Bernard-Philippe Groslier and conducted by Madeleine Van Campo of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris) using materials from two excavation campaigns inside the Royal Palace enclosure (Groslier, 1959, 1960, see Pottier, 2014). Since Groslier’s pioneering work, archaeobotanical research has concentrated on pollen analysis (Penny et al, 2005, 2006, 2014), offering a broad record of past vegetation. Recent fieldwork in Cambodia has yielded botanical remains of rice and other economic crops dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analysis to the 14th and 15th centuries
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