Airborne laser scanning as a method for exploring long-term socio-ecological dynamics in Cambodia

Abstract

a b s t r a c tEarly Khmer societies developed extensive settlement complexes that were largely made of non-durable materials. These fragile urban areas perished many centuries ago, and thus a century and a half of scholarly research has focussed on the more durable components of Khmer culture, in particular the famous temples and the texts and works of art that are normally found within them. In recent years however there has been a considerable effort to broaden the perspective beyond conventional approaches to Khmer history and archaeology. Remarkable advances have been made in the domain of remote sensing and archaeological mapping, including the application of advanced geospatial techniques such as airborne laser scanning within studies of heritage landscapes at Angkor and beyond. This article describes the most recent applications of the technology in Cambodia, including the results of a newlycompleted campaign of airborne laser scanning in 2015dthe most extensive acquisition ever undertaken by an archaeological projectdand underscores the importance of using these methods as part of a problem-oriented research program that speaks to broader issues within history and archaeology.

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

“…Nevertheless, in some cases the ongoing danger of this high water-flow system could not be contained, with disastrous consequences. Such impacts have been observed, for example, in the remains of the settlements of the Khmer Empire, where hydraulic systems ultimately failed 7 . The archaeological record offers both mitigation strategies and cautionary tales.…”

“…Evocative images of the rise, fall and sudden 'collapse' of societies in these environments also owe much to 20 th century archaeological suggestions that large, permanent settlements could not be maintained due to the low fertility of tropical soils 85 . Nevertheless, over the last two decades, archaeological data, including canopy-penetrating LiDAR mapping, have revealed previously unimagined scales of human settlement in the Americas and Southeast Asia 7,86 . Indeed, extensive settlement networks in the tropical forests of Amazonia, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica clearly persisted many times longer than more recent industrial and urban settlements of the modern world have been present in these environments 18,87 .…”

“…Past urban populations clearly acknowledged such challenges and worked to mitigate them. For example, communities in and around the great temple-cities of the Angkor period in Cambodia developed large-scale hydrological infrastructure to both ensure access to water and divert excess flow away from settlements 7 (Figure 4). Similarly, archaeological evidence from c. 1.3 ka in Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia suggests both wetland modification and raised fields were deployed to minimize the impact of flooding on settlements [89][90] .…”

“…Nevertheless, cumulative archaeological interest, spurred on by the application of novel methods of site discovery 7 , archaeological science research (e.g. [8][9][10][11] ), and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (e.g.…”

Archaeological Application of Airborne LiDAR with Object-Based Vegetation Classification and Visualization Techniques at the Lowland Maya Site of Ceibal, Guatemala

“…Since the groundbreaking work at Caracol, Belize [1], the application of airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) has been making revolutionary effects in archaeological investigations in the Maya lowlands [2][3][4][5][6], the Mexican Pacific Coast [7,8], and other tropical regions [9,10]. With its ability to penetrate the canopy, LiDAR allows archaeologists to rapidly map archaeological features Prior to the CPAP, Harvard University carried out archaeological investigations at Ceibal from 1964 to 1968.…”