Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning at Phnom Kulen

Jean-Baptiste Chevance,Sakada Sakhoeun,Nina Hofer,Damian Evans,Ratha Chhean

doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.133

Jean-Baptiste Chevance, Sakada Sakhoeun + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.133

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Abstract

Highlights

The Angkor region of Cambodia in Southeast Asia (Figure 1) is best known for its monumental temples of brick and stone, such as Angkor Wat, most of which were built between the ninth and thirteenth centuries AD
Measuring 25km along its Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning main axis and 15km at its widest point, the plateau rises abruptly to an average of 300–400m asl above the surrounding flat plain, with margins marked on all sides by steep escarpments (Figure 2)
We found evidence here for water-control mechanisms, such as sluice gates, carved into the Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning stone

Summary

Introduction

The Angkor region of Cambodia in Southeast Asia (Figure 1) is best known for its monumental temples of brick and stone, such as Angkor Wat, most of which were built between the ninth and thirteenth centuries AD. Our view of the Greater Angkor area has changed considerably in recent years, moving from simple schematic overviews to detailed archaeological maps. The latter reveal a formally planned, densely inhabited urban core surrounded by an extensive network of low-density neighbourhoods, water-management systems, agricultural networks and transportation links to settlements around other major temple sites (Evans et al 2007, 2013; Evans 2016). Measuring 25km along its Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning main axis and 15km at its widest point, the plateau rises abruptly to an average of 300–400m asl above the surrounding flat plain, with margins marked on all sides by steep escarpments (Figure 2). Slash-and-burn rice agriculture is practised here among the semi-evergreen Dipterocarp forest, an ecosystem that is rapidly disappearing despite the region’s designation as a National Park (Boulbet 1979; Singh et al 2018)

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