[Talk] Living with the Mekong: Archaeological Perspectives and Alternative Futures, a case study blending ethnography, history and archaeology

via Center for Khmer Studies: Readers in Siem Reap may be interested in this talk by Prof. Miriam Stark about the archaeology of the Khmers and their relationship with the Mekong River on July 20.

More than 60 million people rely on the Mekong River to support farming, fishing, and other livelihoods. The Mekong is the region’s rice bowl and a biodiversity hotspot; it is also a contested space now threatened by human and natural forces. A complex web of international agreements and a fully functioning multi-country Mekong River Commission have not prevented the construction of six hydroelectric dams in China, with more than ten major dams in the planning stage for Laos and Cambodia, and dozens more on its tributaries. These dams, and increasingly unpredictable rainfall, have already impacted Mekong River communities downstream, and the future promises to be even more bleak. What was life like before the dams? How did the Mekong River ecology shape the everyday life of its communities in the premodern world? What were some unexpected consequences of these daily practices, and how did communities and the state manage emerging problems? Archaeological research in Cambodia offers insights into major turning points in how Khmers managed the art of living along the Mekong River in the Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian worlds.

Source: Living with the Mekong: Archaeological Perspectives and Alternative Futures, a case study blending ethnography, history and archaeology