title: Uncovering archaeological landscapes at Angkor using lidar.
abstract: Previous archaeological mapping work on the successive medieval capitals of the Khmer Empire located at Angkor, in northwest Cambodia (∼9th to 15th centuries in the Common Era, C.E.), has identified it as the largest settlement complex of the preindustrial world, and yet crucial areas have remained unmapped, in particular the ceremonial centers and their surroundings, where dense forest obscures the traces of the civilization that typically remain in evidence in surface topography. Here we describe the use of airborne laser scanning (lidar) technology to create high-precision digital elevation models of the ground surface beneath the vegetation cover. We identify an entire, previously undocumented, formally planned urban landscape into which the major temples such as Angkor Wat were integrated. Beyond these newly identified urban landscapes, the lidar data reveal anthropogenic changes to the landscape on a vast scale and lend further weight to an emerging consensus that infrastructural complexity, unsustainable modes of subsistence, and climate variation were crucial factors in the decline of the classical Khmer civilization.
authors.affiliation: University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia. damian.evans@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Damian H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Roland J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pottier
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Chevance
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Soutif
authors.forename: Boun Suy
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Sokrithy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: Darith
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ea
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tin
authors.forename: Samnang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cromarty
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Greef
authors.forename: Kasper
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanus
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bâty
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuszinger
authors.forename: Ichita
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boornazian
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D002160:Cambodia; D002962:Civilization / Q000266:history*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D014506:Urban Renewal / Q000266:history*
keywords: Southeast Asia; resilience; sustainability; urbanism; water management