Poor Water Management Implicated in Failure of Ancient Khmer Capital

via Earth and Space News, 03 February 2020: An article about recent research into the (failed) water management system of Koh Ker.

For just under 20 years in the 10th century, the Khmer Empire was ruled from Koh Ker, once a major urban area in what is now Cambodia, now largely forgotten. During the majority of the Khmer Empire’s 600-year dominion in Southeast Asia, its capital was located not at Koh Ker but at Angkor, home to the largest temple complex in the world.

A new study has identified a culprit in Koh Ker’s short reign: its failed water management system. Using lidar, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and hydraulic modeling, an international team of archaeologists led by Ian Moffat of Flinders University in Australia determined that the Koh Ker reservoir would have overflowed during its first or second rainy season.

Source: Poor Water Management Implicated in Failure of Ancient Khmer Capital – Eos