Angkor’s road network resemble modern cities

The results of the latest Lidar campaign over Angkor and the other centres such and Sambor Pre Kuk and Banteay Chhmar promises many new research avenues.

What lies beneath
DPA, via The Nation, 11 July 2016

How archaeologists found the lost medieval megacity of Angkor
Ars Technica, 21 July 2016

Be prepared to sweat. Exploring the world’s largest religious complex in the Cambodian jungle is not for those who can’t take the heat. The sheer size of the gigantic edifices of Angkor Wat and the distances between them means long treks, in 40-degree heat and humidity as if in a sauna.

But then, what you get to see is stunningly unique. There are the monument-sized sandstone buildings, delicate carved bas-reliefs, and the strangler figs, huge snake-like plants creeping up the walls and buildings as if to swallow them up. Like in some enchanted forest.

It is almost impossible to believe that more than 800 years ago, in the heyday of the Khmer culture, hundreds of thousands of people lived in this merciless jungle setting.

But what archaeologist Damian Evans has now uncovered with the help of an airborne laser measurement technology called Lidar (light detection and ranging) explodes everything that was known heretofore.

Full stories here and here.