Geoarchaeological evidence from Angkor, Cambodia, reveals a gradual decline rather than a catastrophic 15th-century collapse

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Dan PennyMartin Polkinghorne

Abstract

Alternative models exist for the movement of large urban populations following the 15th-century CE abandonment of Angkor, Cambodia. One model emphasizes an urban diaspora following the implosion of state control in the capital related, in part, to hydroclimatic variability. An alternative model suggests a more complex picture and a gradual rather than catastrophic demographic movement. No decisive empirical data exist to distinguish between these two competing models. Here we show that the intensity of land use within the economic and administrative core of the city began to decline more than one century before the Ayutthayan invasion that conventionally marks the end of the Angkor Period. Using paleobotanical and stratigraphic data derived from radiometrically dated sediment cores extracted from the 12th-century walled city of Angkor Thom, we show that indicia for burning, forest disturbance, and soil erosion all decline as early as the first decades of the 14th century CE, and that the moat of Angkor Thom was no longer being maintained by the end of the 14th century. These data indicate a protracted decline in occupation within the economic and administrative core of the city, rather than an abrupt demographic collapse, sugge...Continue Reading

References

Mar 1, 1988·Computer Applications in the Biosciences : CABIOS·K M Williams
Feb 7, 2001·Science·H Weiss, R S Bradley
Mar 31, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Brendan M BuckleyTruong Mai Hong
Jan 5, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Mary Beth DayLarry C Peterson

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Citations

Jun 5, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Alison K CarterRachna Chhay

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BETA
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R
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