NON-DESTRUCTIVE GPR ANALYSIS OF THREATENED ANGKORIAN CERAMIC KILNS AT BANGKONG, SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

Pedestrian surveys have identified a large number of 9th century ceramic kilns to the north of the early Angkorian centre of Hariharalaya. Recent development in this area has put this archaeological site under threat. With a large number of kilns already destroyed before analysis, it was necessary to identify the sites for protection from further damage.Since the defined areas showed little evidence on the surface, GPR surveys were conducted to find out what additional subsurface features could be used for classification. Using a 250MHz antenna system, the surveys were conducted over four kilns in varying state of preservation. The analysis included one definite and partly exposed kiln, and three potential kilns. Of the latter, one had been completely bulldozed, one partly destroyed and another one had remained undisturbed. The geophysical surveys shows the possibilities to better define the extent of the kiln mound. 3D visualization of the data displays depth and extent of the fire box and ware chamber of this type of Khmer kiln, providing the opportunity to better outline the area to be protected. The survey serves as a successful sample case for the systematic non-destructive mapping of known and newly discovered kiln sites

Residential patterning at Angkor Wat

17 pages. Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015. First published on December 7th, 2015 at doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.159Considerable attention has been devoted to the architecture and art history of Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple in the last century. There has, however, been little research on the functions and internal organisation of the large rectangular enclosure surrounding the temple. Such enclosures have long been assumed to have been sacred precincts, or perhaps ‘temple-cities’: work exploring the archaeological patterning for habitation within them has been limited. The results of LiDAR survey and excavation have now revealed evidence for low-density residential occupation in these areas, possibly for those servicing the temple. Recent excavations within the enclosure challenge our traditional understanding of the social hierarchy of the Angkor Wat community and show that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been exclusively the preserve of the wealthy or the priestly elite.Gracious thanks are extended to the APSARA Authority for permission to undertake field investigations in the Angkor Wat enclosure, including HE Bun Narith, HE Ros Borath and An Sopheap, which were undertaken under ARC grant DP1092663. We thank So Malay and Martin King for administrative support, and GAP 2010 and 2013 crew members, whose labour produced this research. Damian Evans drafted Figures 1–5. Martin King and Alex Morrison provided additional graphical expertise; conversations with Christophe Pottier, Roland Fletcher, Ea Darith, Ian Lowman, David Brotherson and Paul Lavy were exceptionally helpful. Thanks also to Li Baoping, John Miksic and Louise Cort for identifications of Chinese tradewares in the 2010 excavated materials. We thank the PT McElhanney, Indonesia, company for its contribution to the LiDAR acquisition, which was funded by eight institutions in the Khmer Archaeology LiDAR Consortium: APSARA Authority, the University of Sydney, l’Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient, Societe Concessionaire d’Aeroport, the Hungarian Southeast Asian Research Institute, Japan- PSARA Safeguarding Angkor, the Archaeology and Development Foundation and the World Monuments Fund. All mistakes are the responsibility of the principal author

Prasat and Pteah: Habitation within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure

11 pages. First published in "Archaeological Research in Asia" by Elsevier: Carter, A. K., Stark, M. T., Castillo, C. C., Heng, P., Zhuang, Y., & Chhay, R. (2022). Prasat and pteah: Habitation within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure. Archaeological Research in Asia, 32, 100405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2022.100405The Angkor empire (9-15th centuries CE) was one of mainland Southeast Asia's major civilizations, with a 3000 km2 agro-urban capital located in northwest Cambodia. Since 2010, the Greater Angkor Project has been investigating occupation areas within Angkor's urban core. This work has identified temple enclosures as important residential areas that made up part of Angkor's civic-ceremonial center. In this paper, we review excavations from residential areas within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure. We concentrate on evidence for residential patterning by focusing on our 2015 excavations, one of the largest horizontal excavations of a single occupation mound within Angkor's civic-ceremonial center. These data offer further evidence for archaeological patterns of residential occupation within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure and a comparative dataset for future research of habitation areas within Angkor as well as domestic spaces in other urban settings.The authors wish to thank the APSARA Authority for permission to undertake excavations at Angkor Wat and their cooperation and collaboration in undertaking this research. We also thank Dr. Roland Fletcher for his guidance and support of our project. We extend our deepest gratitude to So Malay and Martin King for administrative support and the University of Sydney Robert Christie Research Centre. Thanks also go to Alyssa Loyless for help with Fig. 2. This work would not have been possible without efforts from the 2010, 2013, and 2015 field crews. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under Grant DP1092663; National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration under Grant 9602–14; and Dumbarton Oaks under a Project Grant in Garden and Landscape Studies

The evolution of agro-urbanism: A case study from Angkor, Cambodia

16 pages. Published in "Journal of Anthropological Archaeology" by Elsevier: A.K. Carter, S. Klassen, M.T. Stark, M. Polkinghorne, P. Heng, D.H. Evans, R. Chhay; The evolution of agro-urbanism: a case study from Angkor, Cambodia; J. Anthropol. Archaeol., 63 (2021), Article 101323The vast agro-urban settlements that developed in the humid tropics of Mesoamerica and Asia contained both elite civic-ceremonial spaces and sprawling metropolitan areas. Recent studies have suggested that both local autonomy and elite policies facilitated the development of these settlements; however, studies have been limited by a lack of detail in considering how, when, and why these factors contributed to the evolution of these sites. In this paper, we use a fine-grained diachronic analysis of Angkor’s landscape to identify both the state-level policies and infrastructure and bottom-up organization that spurred the growth of Angkor as the world’s most extensive pre-industrial settlement complex. This degree of diachronic detail is unique for the ancient world. We observe that Angkor’s low-density metropolitan area and higher-density civic-ceremonial center grew at different rates and independently of one another. While local historical factors contributed to these developments, we argue that future comparative studies might identify similar patterns.The Authors thank the APSARA National Authority for their permission to conduct remote sensing and field investigations. Thanks also to Roland Fletcher for his support. Thank you to Terry and Eileen Lustig for their comments and suggestions on aspects of economic geography and Michael E. Smith for reading and offering comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Thanks to Malay So and Maryne Dana for administrative support. Research, planning, and writing of this manuscript was undertaken with the support of the University of Oregon Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund supported by the Global Studies Institute in the UO Office of International Affairs. Data collection for parts of the research in this study have been funded by: the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration under Grant 9602-14; Dumbarton Oaks under a Project Grant in Garden and Landscape Studies; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship; the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (#1638137); Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE150100756) and Council Discovery Grant (DP170102574); and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreements 639828 and 866454)

The Khmer did not live by rice alone: Archaeobotanical investigations at Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm

21 pages. Published first in "Archaeological Research in Asia" by ElsevierThe Angkorian Empire was at its peak from the 10th to 13th centuries CE. It wielded great influence across mainland Southeast Asia and is now one of the most archaeologically visible polities due to its expansive religious building works. This paper presents archaeobotanical evidence from two of the most renowned Angkorian temples largely associated with kings and elites, Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm. But it focuses on the people that dwelt within the temple enclosures, some of whom were involved in the daily functions of the temple. Archaeological work indicates that temple enclosures were areas of habitation within the Angkorian urban core and the temples and their enclosures were ritual, political, social, and economic landscapes. This paper provides the first attempt to reconstruct some aspects of the lives of the non-elites living within the temple enclosures by examining the archaeobotanical evidence, both macroremains and phytoliths, from residential contexts and data derived from inscriptions and Zhou Daguan's historical account dating to the 13th century CE. Research indicates that plants found within the temple enclosure of Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat were grown for ritual or medicinal use, and also formed important components of the diet and household economy.We wish to thank the APSARA National Authority for their collaboration and permission to undertake excavations within the Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm enclosures. We thank So Malay and Martin King for administrative support, and Greater Angkor Project 2013–2015 field crew members, whose labor supported this research. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [grant number DP1092663]. The 2015 fieldwork at Angkor Wat was also supported by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration Grant and a Dumbarton Oaks Project Grant. The phytolith samples from Angkor Wat were collected by Tegan McGillivray in 2015, processed at University College London by Lindsay Duncan, counted by Alison Weisskopf and analysed by Eleanor Kingwell-Banham. Archaeobotanical research at Ta Prohm was supported by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [grant number NE/N010957/1]. We also wish to thank The Robert Christie Foundation. Finally, we would like to thank Philip Piper for the financial support of the dating of botanical remains through the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship [grant number FT100100527] and Rachel Wood for radiocarbon dating the samples

The Angkorian city: From Hariharalaya to Yashodharapura

International audienc

The Angkorian city: From Hariharalaya to Yashodharapura

International audienc

Urbanism and Residential Patterning in Angkor

International audienceThe Khmer Empire (9th-15th centuries A.D.), centered on the Greater Angkor region, was the most extensive political entity in the history of mainland Southeast Asia. Stone temples constructed by Angkorian kings and elites were widely assumed to have been loci of ritual as well as habitation, though the latter has been poorly documented archaeologically. In this paper, we present the results of two field seasons of excavation at the temple site of Ta Prohm. Using LiDAR data to focus our excavations, we offer evidence for residential occupation within the temple enclosure from before the 11th century A.D. until the 14th century. A comparison with previous work exploring habitation areas within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure highlights similarities and differences between the two temples. We argue that temple habitation was a key component of the Angkorian urban system and that investigating this unique form of urbanism expands current comparative research on the diversity of ancient cities

Deciphering a timeline of demise at medieval Angkor, Cambodia using remote sensing

The Greater Angkor Region was the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th until the 13th to the 14th centuries CE, when it entered a period of decline. Many studies have suggested that the decline of Angkor was precipitated by several factors, including severe monsoons, geopolitical shifts, and invasions. In this paper, we use light detection and ranging and ground penetrating radar to investigate the possible intersection of two of these existential threats in one feature: the North Bank Wall. Our results indicate that this feature was designed with dual functionality of extending the urban area’s defenses to the east of Angkor Thom while maintaining the existing infrastructure for the distribution and disposal of water. These findings suggest that the North Bank Wall was built before the severe droughts in the mid-13th century. The timing of the construction indicates that the perceived need for additional security—whether from internal factional disputes or external adversaries—predated the final adaptations to the hydraulic network during the unprecedented monsoon variability of the 14th century. These results indicate that perceived political unrest may have played a more important role in the decline of the site than previously known.Published versionThis research was generously funded by the Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change Student Research Grant; Arizona State University Graduate Research Support Grant, Graduate and Professional Student Association, the Office of Graduate Education, and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs; Australian Research Council Grant #DE160100703, Flinders University Research Investment Fund Grant, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant (430-2019-01057)